PROBLEM- OR 
OPPORTUNITY? 



Ceonfe Wood Anderson 





Class fci 

Book 

Gopyriglitls _ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



1 



Problem— or Opportunity ? 



Problem— or Opportunity? 

Which is it the Church is Now Facing ? 



BY 

GEORGE WOOD ANDERSON 



Watchman , what oftht night? 
The morning cometh ! 

—Isaiah 21:11, 12 




New York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 



Copyright, 1919, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



>f 1 ' 



Printed in the United States of America. 



m -5 i3i9 



New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago : 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 



©CI.A536846 



CONTENTS 

WHY? 

Page. 
A SOLDIER'S QUESTION 7 

I 
THE SOLDIER WHO MADE HIS VOW 

The battlefield a cathedral — The challenge of a wrecked 
church — The captain's answered prayer — The cold 
church back home — These soldiers must be met with a 
program — The sermon — The timid man of purpose ... 9 

II 
THE SOLDIER WHOM THE EXPERIENCES OF WAR 
HARDENED 
After the signing of the armistice — The forgotten 
vow — The uniform unable to change character — The 
student — The Christian — The boy from city slums — 
Evil influence of war — Gambling — Drinking — Profan- 
ity — Evil influences of some officers — The lowering of 
moral standards among welfare workers — The duty of 
the Church 19 

III » 

THE SOLDIER'S CONTRIBUTION 

The American soldiers achieved a far greater work 
than they realized — The engineers — Their spears were 
pruning hooks and their swords keen plow-shares — Im- 
purity rebuked — Respect for womanhood — Love for 
children — They have unconsciously developed — The 
pruning hook is still in their hands — How will the 
churches meet them? — Deadly sectarianism — The Fed- 
eration of Churches — The function of denominations. . 31 



4 CONTENTS 

Page. 
IV 
WAR INEVITABLE 

Mistaken and dangerous conceptions of war — The 
League of Nations alone cannot destroy it — Brute 
force still in existence — Germany unrepentant — Either 
war, or stop making moral distinctions — The war came 
because Christianity was a glorious success — The be- 
neficent aspect of war — Worth-while results of war — 
The way of coming peace 45 

V 
THE CURE FOR WAR 

The secret for overcoming the brute — What Germany 
needed — Education no substitute for a clean heart — 
France and Italy prepared for revival — Russia, as seen 
by the Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution — 
Socialism and Bolshevism, and defeated liquor inter- 
ests all preach the message of brute force and there- 
fore a menace — "No beer, no work" a defiance of 
justly enacted law — The churches must solve the prob- 
lem 61 

VI 
AMERICANISM 

Some immigrants are Americans before they start 
from Europe — Many never know nor approach Ameri- 
canism — The Trans-Atlantic steamship companies — 
Foreign language newspapers, and subsidized clergy 
as enemies to America— Work of the Carnegie Corpo- 
ration — The task of the school and the Church to the 
immigrant 82 

VII 
NOT REVOLUTION. BUT REVIVAL 

Changing fashions of thought. Germany's New The- 
ology — Reconstruction — The coming Revolution. To 
preach discontent is treason to God — The need is not 
revolution but old fashioned revival of religion — 
Must have positive preaching of truths that have first 



CONTENTS 5 

Page. 
been tested — Not new but true — From individual to 
home, from home to nation 91 

VIII 
AN ALL ROUND MINISTRY 

Evangelism the hope of the Church — Without it, each 
individual church but a social club — What is the 
Christ life: — Ministering to the saints — The mean- 
ing and use of prayer — Necessity of teaching the cer- 
tainty of heaven — Conquering faith — Testimony — De- 
velopment demands all round exercise which evan- 
gelism alone fully supplies 101 

IX 
WHAT CHRIST EXPECTS OF US 

The crime of a closed church — Does the government 
consider the theaters of greater value than the 
churches? — The bishop's sermon — The pulpit not a 
platform for national propaganda — The churches have 
a greater patriotic service to render — Is the pulpit 
enveloped in a dense fog? — "A society woman rolling 
bandages may be doing more for the world than 
Christ" 107 

X 

WHAT IS RELIGION? 

Mistaken Biblical quotations to define religion — Im- 
possibility of sinful heart to meet conditions of Chris- 
tian living until he has been reborn — The thief, the 
selfish, the impure, the arrogant cannot change their 
inner lives — What religion is — The churches must help 
men to "get away from themselves' ' — Shallow phil- 
osophy 113 

XI 
ENCOURAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 

That the world waits attentively for our answer to their 
abuse is a sign of encouragement — The healthy rest- 



6 CONTENTS 

Tage. 
lessness of society — Poem of Angela Morgan — Men's 
hearts are tender — The message of the flowers from 
about the shell holes — The officer's oath — At home 
from the sea — Bone dry prohibition — Attitude of 
wealth toward labor — ' ' Brotherhood ' ' — Men are for- 
saking the broken reed 12Q 

XII 

WHOLE CITIES UNANIMOUSLY TAKEN FOB 
CHRIST 
Every pastor and every layman must be evangelistic in 
order to meet the requirements of Christ's teachings — 
Christianity so began — "Why Christ said "Go ye!" — 
The necessity for evangelists — The danger of the 
denominational drives — Interdenominationalism — Un- 
selfishness alone leads to success 138 

XIII 
GOD IS NOT A LIAB 

The sense of nearness and power of God as the secret 
of power — Our unbelief makes God a liar — The two 
"Whosoevers" — Why fear a blessing? — Not a big 
man but a man with a big conception of the power of 
God — The power of a converted man — The faith of a 
little child 147 

XIV 
NOW! 

This is the accepted time — Delay spells defeat 158 



WHY? 

WHAT in hell will we do when we get 
back home?" was the question put to 
me by the spokesman of a group of 
sturdy soldiers, while they were resting for a 
little while on the edge of the Argonne battle- 
field. Compared with the excitement of war 
the old life back home seemed common-place. 
Some hours later, a companion of mine, refer- 
ring to this question remarked: "The return- 
ing soldier will be a mighty big problem for the 
churches over there." Instantly the words 
leaped from my lips, "Not a problem, but a 
glorious opportunity. ' ' 

Today that opportunity is ours. The soldiers 
are coming back. Now is the all-important hour. 
Opportunities for large heroic undertakings are 
confronting us on every side. Amid the world- 
wide strife the commanding call is to the Evan- 
gelical churches, insisting that we rise to the oc- 
casion. 

In this season of inter-national reconstruction 
we must not falter. We must answer the call 



8 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

now with such wholeheartedness and intelligence 
that the future may have nothing with which to 
rebuke us. 

Fortunately Christ left us the program, the 
following of which will save the whole wide 
world. 

This book is a prayer for the working of that 
program. [After reading the message will you 
not pass it on to another? 

G. W. A. 

Belle Centre, Ohio. 



THE SOLDIER WHO MADE HIS VOW 

THE returning soldiers are making urgent 
and most imperative demands upon the 
churches. The battlefields of France 
have been more than places of bloodshed and 
carnage; they have been great cathedrals 
through whose corridors Christ has walked, 
and where multitudes of men have not only 
learned to pray, but kneeling before the Master 
of Life, have made their vows and sworn alle- 
giance to His cause. To many of our soldiers 
the oath of loyalty taken upon entering the 
army, had in it all the essential elements of a 
sacrament. They felt that this was a holy war. 
In making battle for the freedom of the world's 
oppressed and downtrodden, they felt that they 
were doing the bidding of the Almighty. To 
them the field of battle was holy ground on 
which they stood with bowed heads praying for 
strength with which to strike the oppressor with 
steady and effective stroke. 

9 



10 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

In the neighborhood of Luneville, in plain 
sight of the three lines of German trenches, are 
the ruins of a little old stone church which was 
sometimes used as a watch tower by our soldiers 
when occupying the Baccarat sector. The tower 
had been badly shattered, the roof broken 
through, the windows stripped of glass, the 
altars shattered by bursting shell, the pews 
torn with shrapnel or crushed beneath the 
weight of the ceiling's heavy stones. No more 
dreary place could be conceived. Amid the 
faded bloodstains of those who had perished 
while seeking shelter in this sacred place, was 
the broken body of the Lord Jesus, half buried 
by the wreckage. No more grewsome place 
could be imagined, but to one of our American 
boys it had been a place of inspiration. Each 
piece of shattered carving in wood or stone, 
each broken bit of colored glass lying amid the 
tangled leading of the windows, each broken 
altar and crucifix was a call to service. Visiting 
that church today, you can read upon the rent 
wall the message which his burning soul could 
not refrain from writing to his comrades : 

"Boys, when you see this church remember that 
you are Christians; therefore, get the Hun!" 



THE SOLDIER WHO MADE HIS VOW 11 

The writer was a Christian soldier named 
Ignatius, from Cleveland, Ohio. The spirit of 
this crusader was the spirit that consciously 
controlled a large number of our soldiers, and 
indirectly, influenced all of them. This was 
God's war. His Right was making battle 
against hell's Might and they were chosen by 
their country and called of God to use the gun 
and hand grenade on land and sea and air. To 
many of them their scenes of conflict were places 
of prayer and consecration. They believe that 
the preservation of their lives amid the fumes 
of poison gas and shrieking shell, while thou- 
sands of their comrades fell, is a definite answer 
to their prayers. 

With our garments stained with mud and wet 
through by the never-ceasing rain, an army cap- 
tain and I were walking from an advanced posi- 
tion beyond Montfaucon back to the first receiv- 
ing station to minister to those brave lads who, 
the day before had broken through the famous 
Hindenburg line, but who, had afterwards been 
wounded. The shells from the American bat- 
teries were hissing over our heads as they sped 
onward to strike for liberty, while the German 
shells were bursting all about us. When one of 



12 PROBLEM— OB OPPORTUNITY 

the enemy shells exploded so close to us that we 
were compelled to throw ourselves upon the 
ground to escape its whining shrapnel, he said, 
as calmly as though he were in his drawing- 
room at home : 

"Doctor, I have made some mighty big prom- 
ises to God today.' ' 

His eyes shone with gladness and satisfaction. 
He had gained a spiritual victory and was re- 
joicing in it. 

"Good!" I exclaimed. "It requires a big 
man to make a big vow, and, if I judge you 
rightly, you will keep them to a letter. ' ' 

"Keep them? Why Doctor, I'll have to keep 
them if I am any kind of a man at all for God 
"Almighty did sure take me at my word this 
day." 

He told me then of his prayer that morning 
for safety and his promise that, from that hour 
on, he would live a clean cut, out and out, life 
for God and then added : 

"Do you see that clump of trees beyond the 
smoke where that six-inch Fritzy just struck? 
Less than an hour ago I was standing there in 
company with my Major and Colonel, develop- 
ing some plans, when a shell exploded killing 



THE SOLDIER WHO MADE HIS VOW 13 

both of my superior officers and leaving me 
without a scratch. Just think how God took me 
at my word. I feel that He must have used His 
own hands in holding back the shrapnel and 
broken shell in order to answer my prayer. ' ' 

Coming to the first aid station where nearly 
two hundred wounded and gassed men were ly- 
ing on the wet grass with the rain beating upon 
their unprotected faces and uncovered bodies, I 
took his hand in parting and said : 

' ' God bless you, old scout ! I know that you 
will make good when you get back home ! ' ' 

"Yes," he said with emphasis. Still holding 
my hand he waited a moment in thoughtfulness, 
as though my last statement had opened a new 
phase of the question. With his contemplation 
the enthusiasm seemed to die from his eyes and 
face. "Yes," he continued gravely, "I will!" 
His jaws snapped with determination. "I will, 
but it will be mighty tough work for me to keep 
warm in that old cold church back home. ' ' 

On the transport, returning to America, an- 
other army officer related an experience almost 
identical to this one, and his only concern was 
about how he could get along when, away from 
the army, he was compelled to settle down in 



14 PROBLEM—OR OPPORTUNITY 

the church that had chilled his youthful soul 
with its cold formalism. Many times have I had 
soldiers ask me if I thought it necessary for 
them to join church when they got back home, 
adding that they thought it might be easier to 
live an independent life. 

The soldier who, embarking upon a sea in- 
fested with sub-marines, or in preparation for 
battle, or in the midst of the conflict, made his 
vows to the Almighty, lived far more deeply 
and possesses a far finer and keener sense of 
true Christian living than even some of the most 
faithful who stayed at home. They may not 
have manifested many of the fruits of Chris- 
tian living for amid the wickedness and sin of 
army life that constantly surrounds them, they 
have not had a chance. Their religious experi- 
ences are not those of outward confession but 
of inward determination which is real, vital, 
virile, and very often, eager to express itself in 
public confession. They are waiting to get back 
home to say aloud what they have already said 
in silence. 

These men must be met with something more 
than a warm spirit of gratitude that their lives 
have been spared and they have been permitted 



THE SOLDIER WHO MADE HIS VOW 15 

to return to us in safety to take up their unfin- 
ished tasks, although we should not be slow in 
showing this gratitude. They must be received 
by our churches with something more than a re- 
ception where the social rooms of the churches 
are thrown open and the soldiers greeted with 
song and music, ice cream and cake, although 
one of the most hopeful signs that the churches 
are ready to meet their heavy social obligations, 
is the manner with which they are greeting the 
soldiers returning from our camps at home and 
abroad, and surrounding them with healthful, 
wholesome influences. If the churches fulfill 
their highest mission, they must add to these ac- 
tivities a definite program that challenges their 
souls as war demanded their best endeavor. 
That challenge can be made only by a church 
filled with Christ 's spirit of evangelism. There 
must be a program of action. The Christian 
life, like that of a soldier, has a definite object 
for which to strive. Our soldiers went forth 
into one war believing it to be a holy war be- 
cause they were fighting an oppressor to relieve 
the down-trodden, they will enter the Christian 
warfare only when they are made to see that the 
Christian life is a call to an unselfish effort to 



16 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

free and liberate those who are unable to save 
themselves. 

Some people seem to think that the sole objec- 
tive of church membership is to go to public 
worship once a week and sit with folded hands 
listening more or less attentively to a sermon. 
There is a decided benefit coming from the hours 
spent in devotional meetings, but the sermon con- 
stitutes a very small part of the individual life. 
Because it is such a small part of the individual 
Christian's life the preacher should make his 
sermon such a stirring call to arms that all his 
membership would rally and march forward 
with the same spirit that moved our soldiers in 
France, into a battle against sin, and to redeem 
the crushed and down-trodden victims of sin. 
To save a soul from hell is a greater and more 
worthy task than to save a victim from German 
barbarity. 

While many of our soldiers are strong and 
eager to publish their unspoken vows, there is 
another class of men, who, because of tempera- 
ment, are awaiting the word and welcome that 
will make it easy for them to fulfil their long- 
ings and, by public confession, place themselves 
unreservedly on God's side. Their records are 



THE SOLDIER WHO MADE HIS VOW 17 

without blot, their aspirations are the loftiest, 
in potentiality they are the equal to any of their 
comrades, but a natural spirit of reserve makes 
it next to impossible for them to come to the 
fullest degree of self-realization unless they re- 
ceive helpful inspiration. 

I have had the opportunity of addressing 
many thousands of our boys in France and I 
have learned to know their hearts and what they 
counted of greatest value. They did not need to 
be urged to make vows for they had already 
done that. What they most desired was a gos- 
pel message of an inspirational nature that 
would strengthen their wills and enable them to 
keep the vows already made in silence. The 
hundreds of strong manly fellows who have 
come to me at the close of our religious meet- 
ings and holding my hand fervently would say, 
with trembling lip and tear-filled eyes : "I shall 
never forget you for you encouraged me today. 
I made up my mind to serve God the day I en- 
tered the army, but I needed help. You inspired 
me and it will be easier now." Testify to the 
great number of boys who will come back to 
their home churches eager for the encourage- 
ment that shall enable them to say aloud what 



18 PBOBLEM—OB OPPOETUNITY 

they have said to Christ in secret. No Men's 
Club, or building project, or Association activi- 
ties can help these lads in the formative period 
of their spiritual experience like the spirit of 
evangelism that sends them out seeking the lost. 
They identified their service in war with Christ. 
By being good soldiers they were doing some- 
thing for Him. This spirit and conception of 
service must be maintained, and for this, there 
is nothing like going out into the strongholds of 
sin, defying iniquity, enduring hardships and 
persecutions if need be, in order to save a broth- 
er from the snare. It has in it all the thrill of 
daring and joy of conquest incident to days of 
battle. The church must not put up a weak pro- 
gram and expect hearty response. Ordinary 
church formalities and inactivities are nauseat- 
ing to boys, much less to red blooded soldiers. 
Strong men do not ask to be coddled, but like 
the dauntless Paul, are challenged by the appeal 
to " endure suffering as a good soldier." Set 
them to the task of cutting their way through 
the wire-entanglements. 



n 



THE SOLDIERS WHOM THE EXPERI- 
ENCES OF WAR HARDENED 

t I AHE first fruits of the armistice and the 
cessation of hostilities was a material 
break in the morale of our armies. 
With the reduction of danger to the minimum, 
and the resuming' of the regular, monotinous 
routine of camp life, our men let down and re- 
laxed from the intense strain that had driven 
them to hard drill and rigid discipline. They 
knew that the war was ended. Hand to hand 
combat was a thing of the past. They realized 
that the demand for hardened muscles and clear 
brains was over. Efficiency was no longer a 
goal. They could relax and begin to plan for 
their home-going. 

The protracted deliberations of the Peace 
Conference intensified the unrest among our 
soldiers and made study and mental concentra- 
tion practically an impossibility. Amid this en- 
forced idleness and the deadening influences of 
army life, many of the boys who had made vows 

19 



20 PROBLEM— OE OPPORTUNITY 

in the most earnest and sacred manner, fast 
forgot them, and became numbered with those 
whose hearts had become hardened by the ex- 
periences of war. 

It is well to remember that placing a unif orm 
upon a man does not necessarily change his 
character. Students were still students. Those 
enclined toward the world of mechanics, still 
loved machinery and sought every possible op- 
portunity to be identified with the mechanical 
part of war making. Musicians still loved 
music, nature lovers still admired the beauties 
of France, Christian lads remained good and 
pure, and, though dressed in kahki, and honored 
as an American soldier, the evil-minded men re- 
tained their wicked speech and sinful inclina- 
tions. 

Lovers of books were still omniverous read- 
ers. Going along the front lines I have found in 
the dug-outs of the most advanced positions, 
many a student bending over his book, studying 
as earnestly there by faint candle light, as he 
was accustomed to study in his electric lighted 
room at college. In the depths of the forests, 
sheltered in their gun pits, close to the great 
cannon which they had learned to love as ar- 



SOLDIERS WAR-HARDENED 21 

dently as though they were things of life, I have 
discovered soldiers so completely absorbed in 
intense study that they were utterly oblivious of 
the bursting shells that announced that the Ger- 
mans were endeavoring to locate their batteries. 
On the very edge of the battlefield, when the 
severest conflicts were waging, I have seen the 
drivers of army trucks and ambulances, while 
awaiting orders, calmly sitting upon the front 
seat of their cars, studying a college text-book 
-—in hours of battle preparing for the conquests 
of peace. A student is always a student and 
donning a uniform did not change him. It did 
not lower his standard for in his reading he de- 
manded the best. On my visits to Paris on of- 
ficial business for the Young Men's Christian 
Association, it was my great pleasure to serve 
the soldiers by purchasing for them, text-books 
in elementary Greek, advanced Latin, French, 
Geometry, Trigonometry, Physics, Chemistry, 
Art, Architecture, History, Poetry and Philoso- 
phy, some of which were of advanced character. 
Lovers of the Bible were still lovers of the 
Book. A friend of mine who was with our sol- 
diers during those awful days at Chateau Thierry 
said that in assisting the over-worked Chap- 



22 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

lains, lie found, in one small piece of woodland, 
forty of our boys lying dead. In searching for 
means of identification lie found that thirty-six 
of these dead lads had copies of the New Testa- 
ment upon their persons, and that most of them 
held the open Testaments in their hands as 
though they had fallen to sleep reading the mes- 
sage of Him who had died for others. Among 
these was a Jewish lad. 

As a whole, our army was the cleanest, purest 
army that ever marched beneath the waving 
banners of any land, and its fine morale will be 
a source of pride through all the coming years, 
but we must not permit these truths, as great 
and gratifying as they are, to obscure the fact 
that army life affords many opportunities and 
supplies many powerful influences for harden- 
ing and destroying character. 

The donning of an army or navy uniform did 
not change character, and the boys from our city 
slums who had been born wrong and from child- 
hood had been schooled in vice; who through 
heredity and training would be classed as de- 
generates, as soldiers still held their low concep- 
tions of life, polluting the air with their vul- 
garity and profanity, and contaminating their 



SOLDIERS WAR-HARDENED 23 

immediate associates with their evil practices. 
They had attended the same social school with 
Gyp the Blood and his associates in crime, and 
could not be reformed or even restrained by the 
cut or color of clothing. 

There were whole divisions of our army that 
were almost free from these conditions, for the 
soldiers comprising these organizations came 
from the healthy, moral atmosphere of farm, 
country village, and smaller cities. These are 
truly the lads who brought honor to our flag 
and inspired respect for our country in the 
hearts of the French, English, Belgian and Ital- 
ian peoples. Even in those divisions where the 
lower type of soldiers persisted in their wicked- 
ness there were many noble characters who, like 
Daniel in Babylon, refused to identify them- 
selves in any way with the vicious. These ex- 
ceptions amid the worst must ever be kept in 
mind, but I have visited some units of our army 
that seemed to be nothing less than a foul hot- 
bed wherein grew everything that was vulgar 
and irreverent to man, woman and God. 

Among these sins was gambling of various 
forms which were conducted so openly, espe- 
cially in those places where the officers per- 



24 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

mitted themselves to be too busy to notice the 
habits of their men, that the French children, in 
imitation of the soldiers who were their ideals, 
became little gamblers "shooting craps" in the 
open streets and swearing in English like little 
pirates. Wine drinking was carried to shame- 
ful excess by some, while profanity became so 
prevalent and almost universal as to beggar de- 
scription. 

Officers would sometimes swear at their men 
until one would wonder how the soldiers could 
refrain from rising in rebellion. Only their in- 
born loyalty to their country and their willing- 
ness to submit to all things for the sake of effi- 
ciency, enabled them to keep up their steady 
drill without a protest. While walking over the 
large drill ground of the receiving camp at St. 
Nazaire, I overheard a young officer addressing 
a group of soldiers under his command, several 
of whom were college graduates, and all of whom 
seemed to be boys of culture and refinement. 
They had evidently made some error in obeying 
his commands and he was villifying and assault- 
ing them with the vilest profanity imaginable, 
using every low and vulgar epithet that a de- 
praved intellect could conceive. By word and 



SOLDIEES WAK-HAKDENED 25 

gesture the officer was confirming the opinion 
that, in morals and intellect, he was far inferior 
to every man whom he commanded. One could 
not help but wonder if the father's wealth did 
not have to bear a heavy obligation in supple- 
menting his lack of brains and training to lift 
him to a position compatable with the family 
dignity. Seeing these soldiers, men of charac- 
ter, standing still, unable to express their re- 
sentment by even a twitch of facial muscle, 
stirred my soul to its deepest depth. Some 
months later while riding on the train in com- 
pany with another officer I had occasion to men- 
tion this together with other similar incidents 
that had come under my observation, and he 
laughingly responded : ' l You must expect that 
in the army, for, you know, war is hell. ' ' 

With such examples sometimes placed before 
them, it is not surprising that the rougher and 
tougher elements of the soldier's bodies felt at 
liberty to give free rein to their vulgarity and 
profanity. In my work of the ministry I have 
been placed in direct contact with men and 
women of every condition of sin and iniquity. 
I have seen them in their accustomed haunts 
where they have given themselves to sinful in- 



26 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

dulgence with utter abandon. From the lips of 
these I have heard vulgar jest and frightful pro- 
fanity, but their utterances were relieved now 
and again with pleasant word and hearty laugh- 
ter. Among this certain class of soldiers to 
whom I am now referring, the flow of indecent 
language was never interrupted by even one 
peal of ringing laughter, as though sparkling 
laughter could not well forth from such foul 
sources. 

These men, thrust into our army, became a 
source of moral contagion, so that profanity 
swept like the pestilence that it is, from lip to 
lip, until it seemed that one could never hear a 
sentence freed from its corruption. 

One must constantly bear in mind that while 
army life has many things that tend toward the 
reformation of the evil doer and the building of 
character for those who are well grounded in 
the fundamentals, that there is also in these 
great bodies of men so closely associated, espe- 
cially when living in a far-off land among peo- 
ple of another tongue, a degenerating influence 
that demands of the best characters an unceas- 
ing vigilance to overcome. I have seen this 
manifested among the men engaged in welfare 



SOLDIERS WAR-HARDENED 27 

work with the soldiers oversea, than whom, a 
better or more self-sacrificing group of men 
never got together in one united effort to serve 
their fellow man. There may have been some 
faults within these organizations but in all prob- 
ability the faults were due more to the lack of 
strong, executive leadership at Paris, than to 
the men in the field whose heroism and self- 
f orgetfulness were sublime. The strongest men 
can do little to overcome the evils resulting from 
weak and impotent executive leadership. But 
even among these noble workers in the field 
there was constantly manifested a tendency to 
let down a little. Take the smoking of ciga- 
rettes, the morals of which I am not now dis- 
cussing. In the welfare work abroad were 
preachers, professors in colleges, teachers in 
public schools and business men, who, for the 
sake of their influence over youth, had never 
taken their first smoke, but who, within a few 
weeks time after arriving upon the field, became 
so addicted to the use of cigarettes that they 
were seldom seen without one in their mouths. 
There were many workers who for religious or 
moral reasons refused to use them and never, 
for one moment lowered their standards con- 



28 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

cerning this practice. When these men who had 
begun to use cigarettes were asked what they 
would do when they returned to America an- 
swered unanimously, "Why, cut them out of 
course. ' ' Many men have said to me, ' ' I would 
not, for the world, have my son know that I 
smoked cigarettes. ' ' More than one teacher, 
when pressed by me on the subject, has said : " I 
would rather cut off: my hand than have my 
scholars see me use it to lift a cigarette to my 
lips. ' ' When asked why they would so let down 
the bars when away from home they have an- 
swered : "I suppose that it is the atmosphere of 
army life." 

With this in mind it is easy to see how, when 
soldiers from good homes and environment were 
compelled to remain constantly under the influ- 
ences of the evil practices of those who, before 
entering the army were degenerate, many of our 
better men became contaminated and will return 
home corrupted and hardened of heart. 

To these men the evangelical churches of 
America owe a great debt. These soldiers, by 
their heroism in battle, and courage amid the 
gravest dangers have proven that they possess 
those sterling qualities which are fundamental 



SOLDIERS WAR-HARDENED 29 

for true-hearted Christian living ; but war has 
deadened their finer spiritual feelings, and with 
seered consciences, they are coming back to us. 
Some of them seem far beyond the reach of the 
church, but that is an illusion. There is no 
limit to the power of God to save sinners when 
once the church fulfils her true function. Even 
if some of them, because of heredity or early 
training refuse to heed, there remaineth yet the 
splendid task of reaching those who left our 
homes with clean lips and pure hearts, but who 
have fallen victim to pestilential profanity and 
kindred sins. 

They must be greeted with something more 
than the roaring cannon, blowing whistles, and 
the shrieking sirens of New York harbor. 
These are well and in perfect taste. We are 
glad to have them back. We can never honor 
them too much for what they have done. Let 
the bands play, the flags wave, the churches 
spread broad banners inscribed with words of 
warmest welcome, let them have all these — and 
something more. Let them be greeted with the 
ministry of a thoroughly evangelized church 
that will not cease searching until she regains 



30 PBOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

the coins that our soldier boys once owned but 
lost away from home. 

Having gained the victory over the Germans 
they must not lose their own souls. Give them 
full credit for all that they have done. Warm 
their hearts with well deserved praise, but do 
not permit unbalanced praise to blind them to 
the fact that, if they have lost their faith in God 
and have ceased to serve Him, that they have 
been defeated. Honors in the realm of war-fare 
cannot substitute for the loss of a soul. There 
need be no words of excoriation, there is no 
place for senseless condemnation, but let the 
churches of God greet them with the spirit of 
Christ who so loved the perishing that he could 
not lie down to sleep at night until the last lost 
sheep was found and safely sheltered in the 
fold. 

It is sheer madness to hesitate in pressing 
the claims of Christ upon men trained to rigid 
discipline. They do not want "laxity" or 
"broad-mindedness" that savors of moral law- 
lessness, they want, with uplifted hands, to 
swear allegiance to One who is the Master of 
Life and whom they can serve to the death. 



Ill 

THE SOLDIER'S CONTRIBUTION 

THE American soldiers in France have 
been men of achievement in a far larger 
and better sense than they themselves 
realize. The majority o£ onr soldiers did not 
go to Enrope to make the world safe for de- 
mocracy. That was too vagne a shibboleth to 
become a battle cry, they went to Enrope to "get 
the Kaiser." Their one ambition was to give 
to Germany the soundest thrashing that any na- 
tion or tribe of savages ever received. To this 
end they gladly and enthusiastically undertook 
any and every task that would tend toward effi- 
ciency. They built miles of docks in harbors 
and along river fronts; they built more miles 
of gigantic buildings in which to house soldiers 
and store the munitions of war; they con- 
structed hundreds of miles of good American 
railroad in one-third the time estimated by 
European engineers; they built high-ways 
through swamps and forests ; they swung huge 

31 



32 PKOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

bridges across the rivers with a rush and mad- 
ness of endeavor that startled the Allies. The 
regiments of engineers were, in many respects 
the most remarkable units of our mighty Expe- 
ditionary Force. A certain port which we de- 
sired to use was declared impractical by French 
authorities because the water was too deep to 
permit the building of docks of sufficient size 
and strength to serve an army in time of war. 
Within six months the trees that were lifting 
their proud heads in Oregon when the French- 
man gave his decision, were piling, supporting 
some of the strongest and most valuable docks 
used by the Americans, and will remain for 
more than a century as our gift to France. 

The heavy f ourteen-inch naval guns which our 
boys used so effectively in smashing the Hinden- 
burg line and reducing the forts about Metz, 
were made available by the graduates of Ameri- 
can colleges and Schools of Technology, who 
donned overalls, took up pick and shovels, and 
worked like dagoes, laying firmly ballasted, 
standard width, American railroads, with the 
readiness with which other nations were laying 
their little narrow, portable lines with which 
they were carrying guns of small sizes. These 



THE SOLDIER'S CONTRIBUTION 33 

engineers worked willingly, heroically and with 
a spirit of sacrifice seldom equaled, performing 
a far greater work than they wist. 

Our soldiers went to "get the Kaiser" and to 
kill the Hun, but so masterful was their war- 
fare that their spears became pruning hooks 
and their swords became plowshares. By their 
dash and bravery they cleared away, and taught 
the soldiers of other nations how to prune away, 
many of the needless growths of their social 
and political life that were absorbing vital en- 
ergy without return, that this energy might flow 
through fruitful branches and bear richer, bet- 
ter harvests. Their swords became plowshares 
that upturned many a barren field and hard 
packed path of traditional method, that they 
might sow seed that would enrich the future 
with bountiful return. They worked far more 
wisely than they knew. 

The majority of our soldiers kept clean for 
the sake of a good conscience, and for ' * the little 
girl back home." Those who cared neither for 
conscience nor noble womanhood, had their lack 
of moral appreciation reinforced by armed sol- 
diers who stood guard at the entrance of every 
house of shame, and no man in uniform, officer, 



34 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

private or welfare worker, could approach with- 
in the city block where one such house was lo- 
cated. The soldiers looked upon this action as 
an army regulation tending toward efficiency in 
fighting the Germans. Such was its purpose 
and its wisdom was manifested in the hour of 
struggle when only a very small per cent, of our 
men were compelled to desert the trenches and 
weaken our fighting forces, by seeking admis- 
sion into hospitals because they had wasted their 
strength in sin instead of husbanding it to fight 
against the foe. Our army was a clean army, 
but our soldiers, by maintaining their standard 
of purity did more than increase the efficiency 
of our army, as they looked upon their actions, 
they administered the firmest, strongest and 
most righteous rebuke that France has ever re- 
ceived against her favorite but deadly sin. 

By meeting the enemy with that truly charac- 
teristic American dash and courage, our boys 
not only carried their own parts of the lines, but 
set a new standard of warfare that enabled the 
soldiers of all nations to attack the foe with re- 
newed vigor on their last and most victorious 
charge. 



THE SOLDIER'S CONTRIBUTION 35 

Our soldiers, as gentlemen, held high their re- 
spect for womanhood that stands ont in glorious 
contrast with the dark background of women's 
hardships in continental Europe. The woman- 
hood of Belgium, France, Italy and portions of 
occupied Germany appealed to the chivalry of 
our soldiers. In battle and at rest our soldiers 
proved themselves all round men. They were 
untrained in the decadent art of making class 
distinctions. When, at Chateau Thierry, the 
"All Highest in Command" sought to frighten 
our soldiers into a stampede and humiliating 
defeat by sending the famous Prussian Guards 
against them, our boys, to whom all huns looked 
alike, proceeded to handle them as they would 
have handled any other bunch of savages, with 
the result that about one regiment of Americans 
held back and completely defeated the larger 
part of two divisions of the famous "invinci- 
bles" in whom the "All Highest in Command" 
had placed such confidence. An American is 
unable to make "class distinctions" and that is 
why the heavily burdened, down trodden, peas- 
ant women appealed so mightily to their manly 
hearts, when, withdrawn temporarily from the 
fighting line, they found themselves billeted in 



36 PBOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

the remoter villages where women and children 
were permitted to live. I have seen soldiers, 
some of whom were not accustomed to hard 
work at home, take the pitch forks and shovels 
from the hands of the peasant women who were 
engaged in loading mannre, a task they had al- 
ways performed, and never stop until they had 
finished the task saying: "No woman ought to 
do that kind of work." That sort of toil had 
been the portion of these hard-muscled women 
from their girlhood, as it had been the task of 
their mothers and grandmothers before them. 
Europe is familiar with such scenes, so that the 
neatly dressed soldiers of France and Italy, and 
especially of Germany could behold nothing 
worthy of even passing notice. 

The love which our soldiers bore for the chil- 
dren stood out as the most distinctly American 
of our characteristics. Entering into an area 
not hitherto occupied by the American army, the 
children would become frightened and stand 
back with wide open eyes and mouths at the 
kindly advances of our soldiers ; but before the 
end of the first twenty-four hours you would see 
a soldier walking down the street with a little 
girl or boy astride his neck and four or five 



THE SOLDIER'S CONTRIBUTION 37 

other children clinging to the tail of his coat. 
It seemed the fully-one-third of the chocolate 
and cakes procured at such trouble for the sol- 
diers went into the stomachs of little pinched 
faced French children. I have suspected our 
army cooks of preparing twice as much meat 
and potatoes as would feed the soldiers coming 
to their messes, that they might have plenty to 
give to the hungry boys and girls that hung 
about their shacks, and who, after the soldiers 
had eaten their meals, hurried away toward 
their homes carrying strange weights wrapped 
up in their aprons. I was informed that the 
army officers seriously considered refusing the 
shipment of chewing gum to the army saying 
that they could not afford to give up the ship 
space to furnish the French children with gum. 
Be that as it may, our boys loved the children in 
a way that was peculiarly American. 

Thus they performed their own task perfectly 
and in addition, performing a task far greater 
than they ever dreamed. They were the true in- 
terpreters of Amreican life to the peoples of 
Europe, who had believed the German propa- 
ganda that we were merely " money grabbers" 
as we had believed the same propagandists when 



38 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

they wisely asserted that the French were an 
1 i indescent and decadent people. ' ' Whether in 
Flanders, England, France, Italy, Eussia, or on 
the banks of the Ehine, their respect for woman- 
hood, and their love for children together with 
their unflniching valor on the field of battle have 
been the best possible interpreters of the beanty 
and strength of our unassuming American life. 
Hitherto we depended upon books that were 
seldom read by the European, and upon the 
diplomats whom only a small handful or prej- 
udiced people ever met, to interpret our life, 
therefore Europe never knew us, and our trav- 
elers abroad would sometimes have to endure 
the flippant remarks of the English and the 
disdain of the German. They know us better 
now because they have learned to know our sol- 
diers, and their respect will grow with the pass- 
ing of the years. 

In performing this larger task than they ap- 
prehended, our soldiers have unconsciously ma- 
tured and developed, so that, as they turn their 
faces toward home they still hold the pruning- 
hook and the plowshare in their manly hands. 
Old things must pass away. All things must be- 
come new. Because of his power to vote all the 



THE SOLDIEB'S CONTRIBUTION 39 

political parties are reconstructing their plat- 
forms and altering their methods of approach; 
business methods are modifying — but what of 
the churches? 

Spears have been turned into pruning hooks ; 
will we permit them to cut away the red tape of 
formalism that retards action; and the soul- 
binding, spirit-dwarfing bandages of narrow 
sectarianism, so that, as one united force, in 
concerted action we may "go over the top" and 
at the foe, bringing the victory for which God 
is longing! Will we open our ecclesiastical 
vineyards and permit their experienced hands 
prune and cut away the dead and useless, that 
every drop of our vital life-giving energy may 
flow through fruitful branches and bring forth 
a harvest pleasing to God? These are most 
vital questions, not for tomorrow but for today. 

This war was practically won when the Allied 
forces ceased to operate independently and be- 
gan to work as one great army under one lead- 
ership. Our churches must learn the same les- 
son. The spirit of sectarianism must end, and 
the forces of evangelical Christianity must unite 
in one great Federation, for earnest aggressive 
work along the lines of moral and social wel- 



40 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

fare, not forgetting the spirit of evangelism 
that must prevade the whole body and all its 
works if they would be enduring. A spirit of 
revival that counts not the cost, that leaves 
nothing undone to route the enemy of our souls, 
and works with the desperate earnestness of a 
soldier in battle to save the lost for whom Christ 
died, who cannot save themselves, who will per- 
ish unless they are gone after, sought for and 
persuaded by the personal touch and word that 
led Nathaniel to Jesus. 

The time has fully come for the Federation of 
Churches, for, to men who have taken part in 
the mightiest organized movement that the 
world has ever known, and which will be sur- 
passed only when the forces of Christianity be- 
come fully united, the spirit of sectarianism is 
disgusting. To expect these soldiers to drop 
out of their mighty organization and enter one 
small unit of God's army and spend his life en- 
ergies fighting some other unit of God's army, 
instead of rejoicing in each other's strength, 
and, with mutual confidence and faith, march 
forth to defeat sin and rescue its enslaved, is 
sheerest folly. We dare not tell him in this day 
that there is but one little creed by which a man 



THE SOLDIER'S CONTRIBUTION 41 

may be saved. "War has killed Church-anity, 
the soldiers are asking for the real spirit of 
Christ-anity. 

Our boys in army life have stood shoulder to 
shoulder with men of all creeds, faiths and doc- 
trines, and have learned the lesson of tolerance, 
just as men at home in Liberty Loan and other 
drives have beheld examples of unselfishness 
and courage that have thrown down many of 
these hand-made walls of prejudice, never to be 
built again. "When one sees Protestant boys 
standing silently, with bowed, uncovered heads 
while their Catholic companion kneels at a way- 
side shrine to say his prayers ; when you see a 
Catholic lad standing in trench mud and water 
hip deep, keeping watch lest the huns stealthily 
slip upon his unprotected Protestant compan- 
ion who, in the neighboring dug-out, is endeav- 
oring, by faint candle light, to read the New 
Testament that he ever carries near his heart ; 
when you see Protestant and Catholic together, 
leaping over the parapet and braving the dan- 
gers of "No Man's Land" to save a wounded 
Jewish companion who, for many weary hours, 
has been lying in a shell hole praying to the God 
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; and when safely 



42 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

delivered stand reverently with uncovered heads 
while he utters his prayer of thanksgiving : 

1 t magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt 
his name together. I sought the Lord and he 
heard me and delivered me." 

Beholding this we know that the spirit of sec- 
tarianism is dead and we are not surprised 
when they all join hands and say in unison : 

"I love the Lord because he hath heard my 
voice and my supplications. Because he hath 
inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call 
upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of 
death compassed me, and the pains of hell get 
hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 
Then called I upon the name of the Lord: 
Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious 
is the Lord and righteous ; yea, our God is mer- 
ciful. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge 
and fortress ; my God, in him will I trust."" 

These boys have learned to have respect for 
each other's faith. That there is a vital differ- 
ence between these three forms of religion, all 
claiming obeisance to the same God and Father 
of us all, is not debatable. "We are not pleading 
for the casting away of the great fundamental 
facts of Christ Jesus that make Protestantism 



THE SOLDIER'S CONTEIBUTION 43 

so vitally different ; but rather, would we place 
added emphasis upon them as the most needed 
message of the age. There can be no question 
but that the hope of the world lies in Evangel- 
ical Protestantism with its open Bible and fer- 
vent spirit, but the strength of Evangelical 
Protestantism lies, not in fighting Priest and 
Eabbi, much less attacking the various sects of 
its own faith. Its strength is a strict adherence 
to the Gospel message. "With loyalty to Christ 
as the Evangelical churches see it, and with 
charity for those who do not see it as we do, 
let us be big enough to drop all the little bicker- 
ings that the various sects have one with the 
other, and greet our soldiers and ourselves with 
a program so broad and comprehensive, so 
urgent and aggressive, that will fully meet the 
new conditions, and enable them to join with us, 
full heartedly in the mightiest conquest of the 
ages. 

This does not mean the ignoring or putting 
away of Denominationalism. Just as there 
must be different divisions and subdivisions of 
the army, to which our soldiers and sailors nat- 
urally gravitate, because in some one particular 
unit above all other, they feel that they can ren- 



44 PROBLEM— OE OPPORTUNITY 

der the largest service to their country, so the 
followers of Christ, according to temperament 
and methods of expression, naturally gravitate 
to different divisions and sub-divisions of the 
great church of Christ, which we know as the 
various denominations. Conversion changes 
the individual but not the individuality. There 
will always be different denominations to con- 
form with the different temperaments of men, 
but these denominations must not fight one an- 
other, that is the spirit of sectarianism. The 
narrow bickerings and fightings of church with 
church is unworthy of this age. "Whatever 
method Christ uses to reach and redeem a soul 
from sin is a holy method, and demands the rev- 
erent respect of every follower of Christ, 
whether that method appeals to him or not, or 
whether or not it is a mode of operation in his 
own denomination. "What God hath cleansed, 
that call not thou common. ' ' 

The trumpet call of the Holy Spirit is to save 
the lost. Regardless of cost and sacrifice to us 
and the loss of our man-made crowns, let all the 
evangelical churches unite in one great Federa- 
tion, and, like a mighty army, move in such per- 
fect unison and with such force that the world 
may be made ready for His appearing. 



IV 
WAR INEVITABLE 

WAR is horrible. Only lie who has done 
his part npon the blood-stained field 
amid the noise of bursting shells and 
groans of wonnded men, who has seen the 
broken cannon, the scattered weapons, the mu- 
tilated horses and men, and, what is far worse 
than all else, the dying and the dead, can ever 
have any conception of its grewsomeness and 
terror for neither the artist's colors nor the au- 
thor's words can convey the faintest suggestion 
of the reality. Because of its attending horrors 
much is being written and spoken against it, 
most of which is weak and anaemic sentimental- 
ism. There are some truly conscientious ob- 
jectors to war, among whom are the Quakers, a 
body of religious people who have made rich 
contributions to our nation. They are among 
the choicest of all God's noblemen, but unfor- 
tunately, the conditions of the world do not per- 
mit a wide acceptance of their teachings con- 
cerning war. 

45 



46 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

There are some who denounce war in the most 
scathing terms insisting that it is nothing less 
than a curse, depopulating countries, crippling 
industries, the slayer of men, the destroyer of 
homes, and that now it is nothing save a relic of 
barbarism. If this is all that war is then are 
the churches of Christiandom in a most embar- 
rassing position. If war is nothing more or less 
than a curse, then all our memorial shafts and 
arches of triumph are but monuments to sav- 
agery; then are Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, San 
Juan, Manilla Bay, St. Mihiel and Chateau 
Thierry but blotches upon our national record, 
then are our boys returning from Europe or 
standing guard upon the Ehine, only an organ- 
ized band of criminals ; and those of us who do 
them honor are guilty of applauding crime. If 
war is nothing less than a curse then are those 
engaged in it traitors to their fellow man, and 
by our Liberty Loans we are the abettors of 
their crimes, and it is sacrilegious for us to 
praise their deeds or to inspire our children to 
follow their examples of heroism and self-sacri- 
fice. More fitting would it be for the churches 
to hang crape upon their doors and for us to 
dress in sack-cloth and deep mourning. 



WAR INEVITABLE 47 

But we refuse so to act. Our returning sol- 
diers shall be greeted with shout and song and 
ringing bells ; they shall be greeted as men who 
have fought a good fight. "We believe in the 
blessings that rise inevitably from righteous 
conflict, and that, of all causes, there were none 
holier than those of our fathers and brothers 
when they fought the battles of the Revolution- 
ary, Civil, Spanish- American and Anti-German 
wars. 

I am holding no brief for militarism, neither 
would I discourage efforts for arbitration. We 
are all too anxious for a long season of univer- 
sal peace to give utterance to such sentiment; 
but every sincere student of history and soci- 
ology must admit that, up to the present point 
of history, war has been an absolute necessity; 
and though we are hoping for the largest possi- 
ble success of the organization of the League of 
Nations, we must not deceive ourselves to the 
true condition of affairs. We long for peace 
but permanent peace has not yet come and the 
present condition of the world demands still 
greater navies and more practical preparedness 
by the civilized nations of the world. At the 
present time these things are indispensable for 
4 



48 PROBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

the maintenance of the highest forms of life 
and living. 

Civilization began as a military measure. In 
that early day the families banded themselves 
together for mutual help and protection from 
the vicious. Early in history men realized that 
there were some things worse than war. Op- 
pression, tyranny, slavery, unjust legislation, 
ruffianism were worse. With these things in ex- 
istence to cry out for peace would not only have 
been weakness, but cowardice of the basest sort. 
To have depended upon " reason' ' and the " con- 
sciences" of these oppressors would have been 
philosophical anarchism. The same holds true 
today. There are nations as individuals, with- 
out reason and without conscience. To allow 
them, through brute force, to carry on their 
work is a sin against civilization. Deceive not 
yourselves with the notion that brute force, or 
the belief in the right of might has been removed 
from the earth with the signing of the armistice 
and the settlements imposed by the Peace Con- 
ference. The loss of territory and colonial pos- 
sessions, the restoration of devasted regions, 
the paying of heavy indemnities do not change 
the heart or the belief of the savage Central 



WAE INEVITABLE 49 

Powers. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Tur- 
key have not expressed one word of sorrow for 
their atrocities, much less, shown genuine re- 
pentance. 

The imposing of what we call ' ' a just peace, ' ' 
though accepted and fully met, may only tend 
to rouse this brute nature to a more sullen and 
treacherous determination for revenge, so 
called. The German soldiers in their retreat, 
even after the signing of the armistice continued 
their work of wanton destruction of private 
property, buildings and orchards. They have 
not changed one whit. The Turks continue mas- 
sacring the Armenians. After the Peace Con- 
ference had begun its deliberations, large am- 
munition store-houses in Belgium were blown 
up killing many people, destroying over one 
mile of important railroad and terrorizing the 
inhabitants. Shortly afterward, the three Ger- 
mans who had perpetrated the outrage were 
captured, while endeavoring to escape to Ger- 
many dressed in women's clothing. They have 
not changed, and the Bolsheviki, German's legit- 
imate offspring, holds just as low conceptions 
of life and government. The ex-kaiser became 
frantic in his effort to throw the responsibility 



50 PBOBLEM— OB OPPOETUNITY 

of the war upon others, but lie said nothing 
about sorrow, and manifests no evidence of re- 
pentance. 

Germany is still sullenly defiant. In 1914, 
when the German armies were meeting with un- 
questioned success, Mathias Ertzberger made 
and published a memorandum written by him- 
self in which he outlined the policy of the vic- 
torious Fatherland. ' i Germany must have sov- 
ereignty, not only over Belgium, but the French 
coast from Dunkirk to Boulogne, and possession 
of the Channel Islands. She must also take the 
mines in French Lorraine and create an African 
German Empire by annexing the Belgian and 
French Congos, British Nigeria, Dahomey, and 
the French coast. 

"In fixing indemnities, the actual capacity of 
the state at the moment should not be consid- 
ered. Besides a large immediate payment, an- 
nual instalments spread over a long period 
should be arranged. France would be helped in 
making them by decreasing her budget of naval 
and military appropriations, the reduction to be 
imposed in the Peace Treaty being such as 
would enable her to send substantial sums to 
Germany. Indemnities should provide for the 



WAE INEVITABLE 51 

repayment of the full costs of the war, notably 
in East Prussia ; the redemption of all of Ger- 
many's public debt, and the creation of a vast 
fund for incapacitated soldiers. ' ' 

This was the spirit with which Germany ex- 
pected to make peace with the defeated Allies. 
After the presentation of the peace terms to de- 
feated Germany by the victorious Allies, whose 
terms were not only much milder than the Ger- 
man spirit deserved, but more lenient than true 
justice demanded, Prince Lichnowski, the for- 
mer German Ambassador to London said: 

"The peace of Versailles is an absolute nega- 
tion of all principles of justice. It is an arbi- 
trary, unreasonable peace. This peace of vio- 
lence and might is every day preparing a new 
conflict. I wish to emphasize it with firmness 
that if this peace is imposed, there will be a gen- 
eral republican Bolshevist uprising. It will be 
impossible to predict what part Germany will 
have in it." 

Following the signing of the treaty, in a gath- 
ering of women social workers in Berlin, one 
woman emphasized the necessity of every Ger- 
man woman "to bear and rear new and greater 



52 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

armies of strong sons to regain their lost pos- 
sessions." 

So long as this spirit of wickedness is in the 
world, so long will the higher civilizations be 
compelled to keep soldiers, or else do away with 
moral distinctions. When the oppressor clasps 
his manacles upon his brother's arms and re- 
duces him to slavery, let him go without a pro- 
test; when inhumanity ravages and plunders, 
killing men and reducing women and children to 
the basest of conditions, lift neither hand nor 
voice ; when a stronger nation throws away its 
treaties asserting that they are but scraps of 
paper, and seizes a weaker nation compelling its 
people to live in poverty while paying it rich 
tribute, let it alone to carry out its savage pro- 
gram ; then you can have peace, just as in a city 
you can have peace when corrupt officers are un- 
molested. But let moral distinctions be made, 
let the higher civilization say to the lower: 
"That is wrong therefore you must not do it. 
In the name of humanity we demand that you 
cease reducing your brother to slavery and com- 
pelling the weaker nation to pay tribute. You 
must respect the laws of decency and order," 
and immediately you will have a conflict. To 



WAR INEVITABLE 53 

permit them to continue in their brutish work 
would be to heap everlasting disgrace upon our- 
selves ; to stop them means war, and for war we 
must be prepared. 

You cannot win this battle in any other way, 
for you cannot reason with these people or ap- 
peal to their higher and better feelings, for they 
have neither logic nor sympathy. "With them 
might is right. To the victor belongs the spoils. 
They have fists and they want to use them. Un- 
der such conditions for the people of a higher 
civilization to say, "We are too proud to fight" 
or "We will show them the spirit of tolerance 
and win them with love," or say, "War is a 
relic of barbarism and I refuse to reduce myself 
to that level even if they do ' ' would be for them 
to surrender their manhood and give license to 
all these baser powers and thus surrender civil- 
ization to the assassin. 

To say that this recent war was the saddest 
spectacle of the ages, and that the picture of na- 
tion grasping the throat of nation in deadly 
combat represents the weakness and failure of 
Christianity, is to miss the sublime meaning of 
it all. This war occured, not because Christian- 
ity was a failure, but because it is a glorious 



54 PEOBLEM—OE OPPOETUNITY 

success. Thank God that there was enough of 
Christ's spirit in the world to make the Allied 
nations make moral distinctions, and courageous 
enough to say to the Central Powers, "Thou 
shalt not ! ' ' That moment was the most glori- 
ous one in human history outside of Calvary and 
the empty tomb. The heart-beat of the whole 
civilized world is stronger, and Christianity, if 
she will only grasp her opportunity, is ready for 
her mightiest work. 

Such wars, in spite of their ghastly horrors 
are a necessity and we shall not evade warfare 
because of its horrors any more than a noble 
woman evades motherhood because of the agony 
of birth pains. The church of Christ shall con- 
tinue to stand for what is right and make moral 
distinctions even if it leads to a righteous war, 
recognizing that from the conflicts upon fields of 
battle have come some of our greatest blessings. 
As the weapon with which Samson slew the 
Philistines afterward became a refreshing 
spring at which the weary warrior slacked his 
thirst, so often have the weapons of war pro- 
duced clear streams whose irrigating flow has 
made glad whole nations, 



WAR INEVITABLE 55 

There was no prosperity or progress until war 
made it possible. The savages that roamed the 
forests pillaged the fields preventing extensive 
agriculture ; savage thieves plundered the stores 
and shops making manufacturing impossible; 
the mountain passes were infested by robber 
bands and the plains occupied by lawless hords 
that made traffic and communication too danger- 
ous for business enterprises to develop rapidly ; 
pirates roamed every sea to capture the treas- 
ures entrusted to the ships ; and it was not until 
someone with a vision of a higher civilization 
persuaded the families to bind themselves to- 
gether with the bands of a common cause that 
the forests were cleared of savages, the moun- 
tains of robbers, the wilderness of the lawless 
and the seas of pirates, and the water-wheels 
began to sing their songs of coming prosperity. 
War was a necessity, not to exterminate the re- 
bellious, but to compel them to employ honest 
methods of self support and to allow others to 
do the same. 

Every righteous war has contributed to re- 
forms long desired and greatly cherished. In 
every such war there is a power that is more 
than human working for reforms that otherwise 



56 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

could not have been so readily effected. This 
Higher Power that moves amid the clashing of 
arms unsettled formal customs, overthrows cor- 
rupt leaders, and lifts up new men to institute 
better laws and customs. Emerson says : ' ' War 
possesses the power of all chemical solvents, 
breaking up the old cohesions and allowing the 
atoms of society to take new order. It is not 
the government but the war that has appointed 
the great generals, sifted out the pedants, put in 
new and vigorous blood. ' ' What most men call 
peace is mere stagnation and we must discrimi- 
nate between the two. War brings the needed 
movement to the stagnant waters that they may 
be purified. During the last five centuries there 
has seldom been a war that did not bring some 
greatly needed reform. It was the armed bar- 
ons, and their regiments of steel-clad soldiers 
that compelled King John to grant the Magna 
Charta. It was Cromwell's army that gave con- 
quering strength to his insistent demands for 
reforms in England. France went to war 
against the Moors, and that war cleared the 
Mediterranean Sea of pirates. England went 
to war in Africa and the Dark Continent was 
cleansed of slavery. 



WAR INEVITABLE 57 

For many months men cried out against taxa- 
tion without representation, and prayed ear- 
nestly for the coveted freedom of speech, but it 
was not until they were ready to answer the 
challenge of Lexington and wade through a 
bloody war, that these rights came to them and 
became the sacred heritage of their children. 
For years men cried out against human slavery. 
In most eloquent terms they plead the black- 
man's cause, but what politics, statesmanship, 
literature and the platform could not do, war 
accomplished, and accomplished so effectively 
that there is not a soul in Southland or North- 
land that would bring back the olden days. For 
years the tyrrany of Spain filled the hearts of 
the American people with an earnest, holy long- 
ing for its overthrow. It required the battles of 
Manilla Bay and Santiago to close that chapter 
of crime ; and by the blending of Southern and 
Northern blood in that war our nation became 
bound together with inseparable bands of love 
*— today we are one nation. 

The hearts of Christiandom has bled at the 
story of Armenian massacres ; the sufferings of 
Serbian and Eoumanian women and children 
under Turkish and Bulgarian tyrrany, as well 



58 PBOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

as the injustices and outrages heaped upon the 
Poles and Slovac have stirred the wrath of all 
who love justice, but it took the bloodiest war 
of the world's history, not to right these wrongs, 
for that can never be done, but to break the arm 
of the oppressor and permit these people to live 
their lives anew. 

The greatest blotch on America's record was 
the liquor traffic. It was cursed of God and de- 
spised by every true and earnest worker of 
righteousness, but the day of bone-dry Prohibi- 
tion for the nation would be far in the distance 
had it not been for our war with Germany. As 
a war necessity men and food had to be con- 
served, therefore the saloon had to die. 

God's Word told of the return of the Jews to 
Palestine, and every student of prophecy fully 
expected the Jews to return to their former her- 
itage, but when, no one said definitely. Our war 
with the Central Powers defeated the Moham- 
medan and this day is the scripture fulfilled 
— the Jews are going back to the Holy Land. 

None of us would imitate the ancient church 
and lift war to a sacrament, compelling men to 
be baptized or die ; neither would we preach the 
glories of war to the extent that we would have 



WAR INEVITABLE 59 

the soldiers believe that, because death upon the 
battlefield is sacrifice, the souls of the wounded 
would instantly have all their sins forgiven, and 
the dying be welcomed into Paradise regardless 
of the lives they had lived. These things are 
vicious and unChristian. A world-wide peace 
under Christ's rule and reign must sometime 
come to greet those who trust in Him. That 
hour is coming. The promise has been given 
long ago and must be fulfilled. The powers of 
evil can no more prevent it than the evening 
breeze can shatter the rainbow. The hour is 
coming when the last musket shall begin to rust, 
and the ivy shall be tangled in the cannon's 
wheels ; when the iron clads shall be turned into 
merchant ships and the armories into museums 
and halls of learning ; when the flags of all na- 
tions shall float untouched, save by the warm 
kisses of the sunbeams and the soft caresses of 
the winds ; when the fields, once red with blood, 
shall be golden with rich harvests, and where 
once the bullets sped, the butterflies will flit and 
the wild bees hum; where bullets shall be un- 
known save as found by the busy farmer as he 
tills the soil, and kept as souvenirs of a far-off 
day ; when little children shall no longer stand 



60 PROBLEM— OE OPPORTUNITY 

with blanched faces, holding to their mother's 
skirts, frightened at the sound of battle ; when 
mothers shall no longer seek, with fear haunted 
hearts, to get some tidings from "her soldier 
boy"; but where all will be peace and plenty, 
happiness and joy. That day is coming — it is 
not yet here. It will not come through disarma- 
ment. Brute force is yet unconquered. When a 
viper crawls across the threshold, your chil- 
dren 's safety depends the strength and accuracy 
of your blow. Be not deceived with false, senti- 
ment no matter how pious may be the voice that 
proclaims it. 

"Not peace, alone, leads on the day 
That owns Messiah's world-wide sway; 
But many a righteous war and strife 
Must wake the world to loftier life. 

' ' The peace that cowards make with crime 
Is treason to all coming time ! 
Better the outright, manly 'Nay! ' 
Than cringing baseness whimpering, 'Yes*' 

' l Better a war, a brave, good fight 
For truth and justice in God's sight, 
Than bribed corruption, slavish fear, 
Or honor shamed — than life more dear! 

"The war that bursts the bondman's chain 
Or widens freedoms wide domain — ' 
That breaks the despot's rule and rod — 
Is holy war, and blessed of God." 



THE CUBE FOR WAR 

CHRISTIANITY must have a backbone. 
There is no virtue in crying, " Peace! 
Peace ! ' 9 when there is no peace. It does 
not deceive sin nor strengthens the cause of 
God. The very day that Theodore Roosevelt 
gave his historic ultimatum to Germany that not 
only saved the little nation of Venezuela but 
prevented Germany from having the coveted 
foothold upon the Western Hemisphere, a group 
of honest and sincere men, uninformed as to 
what was going on, waited upon him urging 
their claims for immediate disarmament. The 
acceptance of their ideal that day would have 
been one of the worst moral catastrophies 
known. With Germany in the Western Hemi- 
sphere the tides of this war might have turned 
the opposite way, and without Germany on this 
side of the ocean, this war could never have been 
won by the Allies without the American army 
and navy. 

61 



62 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

The certainty of war is self-evident so long as 
Christianity in this world continues making 
moral distinctions. The only way to do away 
with war is to completely conquer and destroy 
the brute force through the power of Christ's 
gospel — the killing of the old man, the putting 
on of the new, by means of the new birth. 

The savagery of Germany came forth from a 
Christless heart. They had slain the Redeemer 
with their destructive criticism. Their deeds 
interpret the heart "for from within, out of the 
heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, 
fornications, murders, thefts, deceit, lascivious- 
ness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness ; 
all these things come from within and defile the 
man. ' ' ( Mark 7 : 21. ) ' ' The brute nature is the 
inner nature — it is the natural man. It was an 
old truth when Jeremiah penned it : " The heart 
is deceitful above all things and desperately 
wicked; who can know it!" (Jeremiah 17: 9.) 

The only cure for the world's ill; the only 
hope for the sin-sick nations, is a missionary 
movement of the largest scale ever known or 
dreamed of, that will enable the plain preaching 
and rapid spread of the pure and undefiled re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ. 



THE CUEE FOR WAE 63 

They do not need Church-anity, for Germany, 
Austria-Hungary and Turkey have had plenty 
of church buildings and temples with elaborate 
ritualism. They had preachers to expound, and 
choirs to sing, and sacraments to administer, 
but they proved ineffectual. These nations have 
had taken away from them even that which they 
had, because Church-anity is not sufficient. 

Our answer to that condition is that these 
people needed Christ. As we understand that 
phrase, the answer is correct and complete. The 
doctrine of Germany that Might only is Eight ; 
that strength only is honorable, while weakness 
is always a disgrace; that the benefits of so- 
ciety belong justly to those whose arms are long 
enough and strong enough to wrest it from their 
rightful owners; certainly had no place for 
Christ. Therefore, with pompous arrogance 
and pride, bred of conceited scholarship, they 
first stript Him of His Deity, and then discarded 
Him from their philosophy. Had they kept 
Him this war could not have been. We are right 
when we say that the one thing that Germany 
needed in addition to all her marvelous attain- 
ments in business organization, and scientific 
development, was Christ. 
5 



64 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

This answer, however, is not always satisfac- 
tory for many people in the world, and even 
members of the Church, misinterpret it. They 
say: "If Christ is the answer then we accept 
Him in onr realm of thinking. "We accept Him 
as a good man. "We even assent that He was the 
Son of God, the Saviour of the world." With 
the conception of an abstract Christ, they bow 
before His image, or reverently kneel at his al- 
tars, and yet possess souls that are sinful and 
hearts hardened with selfishness. What the 
world needs is not a notion of an abstract Christ, 
but the living Spirit of the living Christ enter- 
ing into and having control of individual lives. 
When Christ is permitted to enter the heart 
and to relive His life in the daily activities of 
men then shall He truly be the answer to every 
social and spiritual question. 

Nothing can substitute for the pure heart. 
Germany tried every device. The things that 
were material and could be handed down from 
one generation to another she gathered together 
and accumulated with her famed frugality. She 
had sorted them out and classified them with 
such patience and accuracy that men made pil- 
grimages across the sea to behold the wonders 



THE CUBE FOR WAR 65 

of her business, mechanical and scientific at- 
tainments. She had given herself to studious 
application in developing the intellect until the 
scholars of all nations gathered in her Universi- 
ties, striving for her coveted degrees. Germany 
became the shrine at which the world's scholar- 
ship bowed in admiration. With wealth, organ- 
ization, education, she should have been what 
she prided herself upon being — a leader in 
righteous and noble endeavor. She had every- 
thing that this world has to offer as a substitute 
for Christ but she made dismal failure, her name 
a synonym for everything coarse, savage, vulgar 
and degraded. 

Education has no moral qualities and whether 
a blessing or a curse to its possessor depends 
entirely upon the nature of the heart that sup- 
plies it with directing powers and forces that 
give it expression. Idiots are never criminals, 
they are not wise enough. The more highly edu- 
cated a wicked man becomes the more danger- 
ous may he be to his community. K pure heart 
always brings forth good fruit and the higher 
the degree of education, with this purity of 
heart, the more valuable is the life to his neigh- 
borhood and the nation. 



66 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

The safety of Europe does not so much de- 
pend upon the formation of the League of Na- 
tions as it does upon a revival of religion that 
shall sweep from nation to nation destroying 
the brutish and barbarous instincts from their 
hearts. To meet this crying need evangelical 
Christianity should seek and pray for an endue- 
ment of power that would send her forth to con- 
tinental Europe as a flaming evangel. 

The clean-cut living of so many of our sol- 
diers, and especially, the noble, Christian men 
and women associated in the work of the Young 
Men's Christian Association and the Salvation 
Army who in many instances came in the closest 
possible relations with the people of France, 
have sown the seed of a virile Christianity that 
the churches should not be slow in harvesting. 
The coming of our forces in their time of great 
need has strengthened the friendly relations ex- 
isting for so long between Italy and our coun- 
try as a Protestant nation; which means that 
the Evangelical churches of America have an 
unprecedented opportunity to educate, uplift 
and save many thousands of the Italians who 
are eager to know the way of life. 



THE CURE FOR WAR 67 

When Madam Catherine Breshkovsky, the 
sturdy little woman known in every nation as 
"Babushky," the "little Grandmother of the 
Russian Revolution" came to New York in Jan- 
uary, 1919, she received a welcome, the like of 
which any queen might well be proud. She was 
a daughter of Russian aristocrats who held a 
great number of serfs in subjection. Their pov- 
erty and hardships appealed to her sympathies 
while very early in life so that she soon became 
a voice pleading for the heart-broken and op- 
pressed of that mighty land. As an agitator 
against autocratic Russia, her boldness and un- 
compromising plainness of speech so inspired 
the hatred of Czardom, that she was compelled 
to spend thirty-two, of her seventy-three years 
in dark dungeons and at hard labor in the Si- 
berian mines. When the revolution, for which 
she had so long been working finally came, one 
of the first acts of the revolutionists was to wire 
an order for her release. Everywhere, on her 
way to Moscow and Petrograd, she was greeted 
by the exuberant, childish joy of a newly deliv- 
ered people and her journey was one trium- 
phant march. At the meeting of the Russian 
Provisional, Council in Petrograd, Kerensky 



68 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

escorted her to the platform where she sat as 
temporary chairman, and the delegates rose as 
one man to cheer and honor her. The president 
of the United States wired her a personal mes- 
sage of congratulation. Her heart was filled 
with gladness for the longed-for day of deliv- 
erance, she earnestly believed, had dawned at 
last. 

Within a few weeks she saw her mistake and 
was compelled to flee for her life, for the tyr- 
anny of the Czar was being followed by the tyr- 
anny of the Bolsheviki terrorism, which she 
could neither endorse nor condone. Because she 
refused to give her approval to their barbarous 
excesses, she was threatened with graver dan- 
ger than when openly defying the Czar. The 
former despot only thrust into prison or sent 
her to Siberia, the threat of the latter was to 
cause her death. Only by riding on horseback 
for over six hundred miles did she escape their 
bloody hands. 

Russia needed far more than a mere political 
revolution. Disheartened by the pitiful wreck- 
age of the revolution she had helped so heroic- 
ally and at such tremendous cost, Babushky 
came to America, pleading for funds that she 



THE CUEE FOE WAE 69 

might not only feed and train the millions of 
war-made orphans, but that she might give her 
people "the alphabet.' ' It was upon the igno- 
rance and unreason of the peasants that Ger- 
many sowed the seed that harvested in deadly 
Bolshevism. Bowed down by centuries of op- 
pression they were easily swayed to excess. Of 
the Bolshevists she says : 

"I do not know by what theory they work. 
They seem only to possess the wish to do vio- 
lence, to put the country under the power of the 
Bolshevik leaders for their own gain. Eussia is 
most corrupted. There is no work, no ethics, no 
morals, no religion. Only Bolshevism. All Eus- 
sia is destroyed by social wars. The people 
have no chance to learn. We must send them 
millions of books. My cry for Eussia is : Give 
us alphabets ! ' ' 

Beholding the failure of one dream, that mar- 
velous woman whom we all love and revere, is 
looking for the salvation of the people through 
education, not stopping to consider the fact that 
the German nation was the centre of European 
education and of brutal atrocities. Education 
when the handmaiden of Christianity is a bless- 
ing, but education without the power of Christ 



70 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

to give it the right direction ends in corruption. 
Bussia needs the ' ' alphabets ' ' but what she 
needs most is a revival of religion such as once 
saved England in her hour of peril. Green in 
his History of England declares that that em- 
pire was saved from the horrors of a French 
Eevolution by the revivals of John Wesley. 
Wherever there is a revival educational institu- 
tions flourish and the young men and women de- 
mand training for their intellects. The awak- 
ened regenerated soul must learn "the alpha- 
bet,' ' that is the open door through which he 
may pass into the largest possible life. If Cath- 
erine Breshkovsky depends solely upon educa- 
tion, her second dream will end in just as piti- 
ful and helpless wreckage. 

This is the imperative call for missionary en- 
deavor. It is the greatest challenge that the 
church has ever received, and it should rally 
to renewed efforts in world-wide conquests, but 
not to the extent of blurring our vision of our 
home needs. 

Socialism, with the spirit of the Bolsheviki, 
but apparently of milder temper because it has 
not yet had an opportunity to carry on its work 
of terrorism among us, is appealing to the ig- 



THE CURE FOR WAR 71 

norant and more or less vicious element of our 
large industrial centres. It is antiChristian 
and openly opposed to the church, working most 
industriously by pen and voice, to keep its mem- 
bership beyond all the ennobling influences of the 
evangelical churches. They are materialist of 
the basest sort. Spargo, on page 52 of his book 
*~" Sidelights on Contemporary Socialism," 
says : 

"In a word, it means that the main determin- 
ing force in social evolution is the growth of 
economic power and efficiency; that all intel- 
lectual and spiritual progress is ultimately de- 
pendent upon economic development. ' ' 

Bebel, the German socialist, accepted by all 
socialists as an authority, on page 437 of his 
book, "Woman and the Social Order," says: 

"The religious organizations will gradually 
disappear, and the churches with them. ' ' 

In "Social Unrest" a book by Professor 
Brooks he reveals this fundamental principle of 
Socialism by giving a quotation from Leib- 
knecht. 

"It is our duty as socialists to root out the 
faith in God with all our zeal, nor is anyone 



72 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

worthy of the name who does not consecrate 
himself to the spread of atheism. ' ' 

A socialist's catechism circulated among the 
children of foreign born parents contained the 
following : 

"Q. What is God? 

"A. God is a word used to designate an im- 
aginary being which people of themselves have 
devised. 

"Q. Is it true tEat God has ever been re- 
vealed? 

"A. As there is no God, he could not reveal 
himself. 

"Q. Has man an immortal soul, as Christians 
teach? 

"A. Man has no soul; it is only an imagina- 
tion. 

"Q. Did Christ rise from the dead, as Chris- 
tians teach? 

"A. The report about Christ rising from the 
dead is a fable. 

' i Q. Is Christianity desirable ? 

"A. Christianity is not advantageous to us, 
but is harmful, because it makes us spiritual 
cripples All churches are impudent hum- 
bugs. 



THE CUEE FOR WAR 73 

"Q. Should we pray? 

"A. We should not. By prayer we only 
waste time, as there is no God. If we are given 
to prayer, we gradually become imbeciles. ' ' 

William D. Haywood, a socialist, in a public 
gathering in New York City admitted boasting- 
ly that, during a strike in Lawrence, Mass., he 
had led the strikers through the streets under a 
banner with this inscription : 

"Arise slaves of the world? 
No God; no master. 
One for all and all for one ! ' ' 

Their docility of spirit in these trying times 
is not due to peacefulness of heart or reverence 
for law, but lack of numbers, ammunition and 
opportunity. The spirit of Socialism is one 
with the Bolshevik. Here are some quotations 
from "The Call," extracts from the letters of 
various contributors to this organ of Socialism 
in New York City. 

"To hell with your flag! When the red 

flag floats above our homes and nation, we shall 
honor it and love it, but until it does, we refuse 
to recognize or respect any flag which is merely 
the symbol of and protects some nation section 
of international capitalism. Down with the 



74 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

stars and stripes ! Up with the red flag of hu- 
manity ! ' ' (Edition of February 10, 1912.)' 

"Let us acknowledge the truth frankly, and 
say that we carei not a peanut for the ethical 
aspect of the question; let us admit that our 
sole concern is the acquisition of political power. 
Let us admit if crime (as defined by capitalist 
law) and violence are calculated to further the 
movement, we are prepared and willing to use 
them — let us be honest.' ' (Edition of June 11, 
1912.) 

' ' Bankers of the world, unite ! Build the eco- 
nomic foundations of a world state — a league of 
nations. Internationalize yourselves ! Fly the 
flag of your trade — the yellow flag of gold and 
greed. We too are uniting! We too have our 
international. We too have our flag — the red 
flag of humanity and world brotherhood. You 
are the privileged — we are the people. Some 
day — some day, soon, the people are coming into 
their own. ' ' (Edition of January 17, 1919.) 

Mr. Berger, in the Social-Democratic Herald 
of July 21, 1912, wrote: 

"Therefore, I say, that each of the 500,000 
Socialists and of the two million working men 
who instinctively incline our way, should, beside 



THE CUBE FOE WAE 75 

doing much reading and still more thinking, also 
have a good rifle and the necessary rounds of 
ammunition in his home, and be prepared to 
back up his ballot with his bullet, if necessary." 

One of their leaders declared that he was 
eager "to mount a barricade and fight like a 
tiger. ' ' 

They decry an honest war as was America's 
war against Germany, saying that bloodshed 
was cruel and that brother laborer must not lift 
hand against brother laborer, urge men not to 
swear allegiance to the flag but to suffer im- 
prisonment first, but they applaud the bloodshed 
of the Eussian Bolsheviki, and as a caption on 
the first page of one of their official organs they 
have these words : 

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE ! 
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT 
YOUR CHAINS AND A WORLD TO GAIN. 

Never has the appeal to the brute nature been 
so insistent among the foreigners in America as 
today. When Wisconsin ratified the Eighteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, making the United States and all of its 
possessions bone dry, and the newsboys ran 
through the New York streets heralding the 



76 PROBLEM— OK OPPOETUNITY 

good news: "Prohibition wins! All about the 
nation going dry ! ' ' the saloon element immedi- 
ately began to appeal to the baser nature of the 
crowd saying significantly: "This will mean 
revolution. Blood will be spilled before the 
American people will submit to prohibition. ' ' 

On January 25, 1919, The New York Evening 
Telegram published an article signed by one of 
its own special correspondents, dated at Albany 
the day that the New York Senate ratified the 
Prohibition amendment, in which the following 
quotation appeared : 

"Officers, who refuse to give their names for 
publication say, and it is an open secret, 'that 
there is no telling what the people will do, when 
they realize what has actually been put over on 
them.' Some of the more bitter 'wets' have 
gone so far as to say that they would be willing 
to shoulder arms to defend their right to per- 
sonal liberty, not so much because of their being 
deprived of liquor, but because of the 'opening 
wedge' which has been made by the passage of 
such laws as this." 

Dated New York, February 8, 1919, the Cen- 
tral Federated Union of Greater New York and 
Vicinity sent out the following letter : 



THE CUBE FOR WAR 77 

"To All 'Affiliated Unions and Organized La- 
bor Generally, Greeting: 

"Bone dry prohibition has been enacted into 
law without the consent of the governed. Leg- 
islatures have voted without consulting their 
constituents, and in at least three instances 
where the people have voted declared against 
prohibition, California, Indiana and Massachu- 
setts, the law-makers have deliberately cast 
aside public opinion and the demands of the peo- 
ple and sustained the bone dry amendment. 

"The enforcement of prohibition means that 
hundreds of thousands of wage-earners will be 
discharged from employment and cast upon an 
overcrowded labor market. Statistics recently 
compiled show an enormous army of unem- 
ployed, which is increasing daily. 

"Aside from this serious aspect, the enact- 
ment of a law that a majority does not want, 
and had no say in formulating, the infringement 
upon the individual liberty of American citizen- 
ship, a minority dictating the mode of life and 
guaranteed freedom, is a dangerous procedure 
and if accepted without drastic protest, may 
lead to even more damaging curtailment Ameri- 
can 's personal rights. 



78 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

"The same powers and elements who worked 
so persistently to enact this great wrong are 
busily engaged in proposing legislation to pro- 
hibit the use of tobacco in any form. All these 
laws are primarily aimed at the working class. 
The Central Federated Union of Greater New 
York and Vicinity, after discussing this matter 
very carefully, concluded that something had to 
be done, and done quickly. 

"We yield to no one, either individual or or- 
ganization, in our contention that the organized 
labor movement, and particularly this body and 
its affiliations, comprising 350,000 members, 
stood by the Government patriotically and en- 
thusiastically during the war. The four Liberty 
Bond issues were heartily responded to by the 
Unions and their members. War Saving 
Stamps were bought. The union members em- 
braced gladly the call to arms, did their bit on 
the firing line, and among those returning are 
many who show wounds and general hard serv- 
ice. 

"In return for these sacrifices, the liberty and 
freedom formerly enjoyed by these fighters for 
democracy are crushed without an opportunity 
to voice opinions or desires as free men. 



THE CURE FOR WAR 79 

"We paid for the high cost of living, appar- 
ently without protest, to the delight of the prof- 
iteers, and we shall shortly be called npon by the 
legislators, who put us out of employment, to 
pay an income tax on our earnings, to meet the 
heavy expenses of the war. 

"We have appealed through letters and by 
committees to the lawmakers, the alleged repre- 
sentatives of the people, but the appeal of the 
workers fell upon deaf ears, and, while giving 
us the glad hand, the knife was poised to be 
buried to the hilt in our vitals. 

"The Central Federated Union of Greater 
New York and Vicinity desires to place the is- 
sue squarely before every member of our union 
and request his free and unbiased declaration to 
the proposal that 'if the bone dry prohibition 
law is really enforced on July 1, 1919, to then 
cease work until this law is annulled. ' 

"Your union is urged to discuss this imme- 
diately and officially report your decision, if 
possible, within two weeks. Fraternally yours, 

"Ekistest Bohn, 
"Corresponding Secretary." 



80 PROBLEM— OK OPPORTUNITY 

This threatened "no beer, no work" strike 
was first proposed by the Building Trade Coun- 
cil of Newark which later secured the adoption 
of the slogan by the Essex Trades Council of 
the same city, representing about 75,000 trade 
unionists in New Jersey. These organizations 
called a strike for July first, if the sale of beer 
were prohibited. There was considerable agita- 
tion in certain quarters of our largest eastern 
cities. On many of the street corners venders 
were stationed displaying various propaganda 
devices for sale. One of the most conspicuous 
ones was a small beer mug, colored to represent 
both beer and foam, and attached to a card or 
ribbon bearing the device: "No Beer — No 
Work." The strike, however, did not material- 
ize, having been averted by far-sighted labor 
leaders who saw the fatal error of fighting a 
profitless battle for the liquor interests. 

Defeated in this, the brute nature of those re- 
sponsible for the liquor business revealed itself 
in the mad boastings with which they pro- 
claimed their ability to defy the justly enacted 
laws, and sell liquor to the people. 

The only way of overcoming this constant ap- 
peal to brute force that lies buried in the breast 



! 



THE CUBE FOE WAR 81 

of men, ever ready to spring and rend his fellow 
man, is the power of Christ's gospel, and npon 
the chnrches of America rests the responsibility 
of meeting and conquering. Onr legislators 
cannot do it for legislation cannot change the 
unregenerate heart. We must not sit compla- 
cently in our pews waiting for them to come to 
us, but with the spirit of the twelve evangelists 
who went forth from the upper room at Jeru- 
salem, we must go forth to them with a burning 
message from our hearts to theirs. 

This is no plea for the present social order. 
There are wrongs that must be righted and they 
can be righted only by men with pure hearts. 
To save the world from the bloodshed, terror- 
ism and arrogant autocracy of the ignorant who 
thirst for the blood of culture and religion, 
which is being threatened by the atheistic, un- 
American agitators, the church is the only 
agent. Her message of Christ's gospel is all 
sufficient, but the present church methods are 
not sufficient. We must meet this need with the 
evangelistic note, accompanied by the gathering 
of the converts into the home gatherings and 
spiritual training of our church organizations. 



AMERICANISM 



I 



"^HIS war has declared and our soldiers 
will insist that the hyphenated American 
must go. We want nothing but one hun- 
dred per cent. Americans if we as a nation are 
to attain our full measure of power and would 
wield the coveted influence for righteousness in 
the deliberations of the world's councils. This 
does not necessarily mean the repudiation of all 
the rich heritages which the newly arrived citi- 
zen brings from his birth-land, for, some of the 
richest assets our government possesses are the 
political ideals that the immigrants bring with 
them to this land of hope and promise. We 
must not forget that the "Mayflower Compact" 
that afterwards developed into the Declaration 
of Independence was written before its authors 
ever touched the shores of the Western Hemi- 
sphere. Immigrants have since come because 
they were Americans in the old world and could 
not find contentment until they had taken up 
their abode this side the sea. 

82 



AMERICANISM 83 

When the-Czechoslovaks paraded through the 
streets of Cleveland, Ohio, at the beginning of 
our war with Germany, two of their banners 
bore these legions : 

"We aee Americans through 
and through by the spirit of our 
own nation". 

Americans, do not be discour- 
aged; WE HAVE BEEN FIGHTING 
THESE TYRANTS FOR THREE HUN- 
DRED YEARS. 

The problem of our nation with many of our 
immigrants is to keep them from being de- 
Americanized by the anarchistic, socialistic, and 
Bolsheviki organizations who wantonly magnify 
every minute imperfection of our social life, and 
enlarge upon the grievances of the laborer until 
they begin to feel that the land of their dreams 
is an illusion. Under this constant strain of 
listening to distorted or exaggerated facts they 
begin to believe that it is not a land of true 
brotherhood but a country of harsh, unright- 
eous, commercial competition. Through the 
trickery of steamship agents, tenement house 
landlords, the crude tactlessness of many of our 



84 PEOBLEM— OK OPPOKTUNITY 

officials, they become, as they say, "disillu- 
sioned ' ' which is another word for discouraged. 
Then they begin to nmtter some incoherent pro- 
test, then become agitators where the sorrows 
grow with the telling of them, until they become 
malcontents who, after while join hands with the 
revolutionary agents whose hatred for America 
becomes more bitter with each effort of organ- 
ized society to restrain, or help them. 

Mr. Lajos Steiner of the War Trade Board 
asserted to the Senate Propaganda Committee, 
at Washington, D. C, that three of the greatest 
agencies against Americanizing the immigrant 
were: 

First. The Transatlantic Steamship Com- 
panies "who do not want their boats to return 
empty to Europe, who realize that if those 17,- 
500,000 immigrants who are at present in the 
United States become American citizens, they 
win stay here for good, and their return boats 
will go to Europe empty or half filled. ' ' 

' ' These poor immigrants that I have in mind, 
the Hungarian, the Italian and the Slav, are by 
nature agriculturalists, ' ' continued Mr. Steiner, 
' i and their dream is and always has been to own 
land. Get them upon farms and they will de- 



AMERICANISM 85 

velop into the best and most reliable of Ameri- 
can citizens. And the reason that they are not 
on farms in great numbers is due to the Ameri- 
can land sharks who have frightened the bulk 
of them from agricultural ventures in the 
United States by making them believe that it 
was impossible to engage in agriculture in 
America and survive. They are unmercifully 
exploited by Steamship Companies, rent ex- 
ploiters, landsharks, men interested in getting 
the money from these people." 

He might well have added to this the unscrup- 
ulous Steamship Company advertising in 
Europe in which the promised advantages of 
America are proclaimed with a lavishness that 
inflames the imagination with dreams and un- 
warranted visions that can never be filled, with 
the result through disappointment, he is most 
intense in his bitterness toward the new coun- 
try. 

Second. Foreign Language Newspapers. 

At the beginning of the war there were 1,575 
publications printed in 38 foreign tongues. 
There were 483 German papers with a circula- 
tion of 3,000,000. The Italians had 190 publica- 
tions with a circulation of about 1,000,000. The 



86 PBOBLEM—OB OPPOETUNITY 

Jews had but 156 publications but their circula- 
tion amounted to 1,500,000. The Polish papers 
numbered 97 with a circulation of 850,000. 
There were Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Al- 
banian and nearly every continental tongue. 

Concerning them Mr. Steiner, in his report, 
says : "I am sorry to say that most of them are 
un-American and many of them are anti- Ameri- 
can. They discourage the immigrant becoming 
naturalized because, when Americanized, he 
would learn English sooner or later, would read 
the American papers, and the newspapers would 
lose both subscribers and advertisers." 

Third. One of the most important factors is 
the clergy. The clergymen ' l speculate upon re- 
migration. They are afraid that the members 
of their congregations will join American 
speaking churches, and they do all in their 
power to preach old country traditions, and 
keep alive their love for the Fatherland. They 
draw salaries from their respective govern- 
ments, and as we found in many instances, that 
where it was impossible to buy a church out- 
right, because loyal American immigrants had 
established themselves and were well to do and 
prosperous, and did not wish to come under the 



AMEEICANISM 87 

jurisdiction of the Government from which they 
departed to come to the United States, then a 
competing church has been erected in the very 
same locality, and a subsidized, salaried clergy- 
man was put in charge, so as to combat Ameri- 
canism, and a school has been established and 
maintained with a salaried teacher who will 
preach only traditions of the old countries, and 
will teach only the history and geography of the 
respective countries from which they originally 
came, and only the national anthems of the re- 
spective European countries were sung, and 
Americanism is combatted in these schools." 

A newly developed problem is the great num- 
ber of worthy aliens who are leaving our shores. 
They came to America to get away from op- 
pression. Their native lands, through the be- 
nevolence of war, have been liberated, and they 
long to return to their loved ones and help build 
their new governments after the pattern and 
spirit of America. It is another way in which 
America is helping rebuild a world, but a costly 
one7for these constitute among the best of our 
alien population. Those to whom the old home 
lands in their new struggles make no appeal are 



88 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

generally non-government loving and they re- 
main here for no worthy purpose. 

The field is being caref ully studied by the Car- 
negie Corporation, under ten distinct heads, 
each department of research led by men of wis- 
dom and distinction. These departments are: 
1. Schooling of the Immigrant. 2. Press and 
Theater. 3. Adjustment of Home and Social 
Life. 4. Legal Protection and Correction. 5. 
Health Standards and Care. 6. Naturalization 
and Political Life. 7. Industrial and Economic 
Amalgamation. 8. Treatment of Immigrant 
Heritages. 9. Neighborhood Agencies and Or- 
ganizations. 10. Eural Development. 

It is a magnificent enterprise the wisdom of 
which cannot be questioned. It will result in 
creating some new, and encouraging many of 
the older influences that are "potent in fusing 
the foreign with the native born into national 
solidarity. ' ' There are many agencies at work 
looking toward the coming day when America 
shall have but one language and one flag. 

A large emphasis is justly being placed upon 
education. "The first step" says Hon. Henry 
J. Allen, Governor of Kansas, "toward Ameri- 
canizing the foreigner is to wipe out illiteracy 



AMEEICANISM 89 

among our people. All persons to whom is ex- 
tended the privilege of American citizenship 
should come to speak our language, think our 
thoughts, believe in our institutions and render 
loyalty to our flag. ' ' 

That a large portion of the work is rightly 
training the children of the immigrant rests 
upon the school, we must not forget that the 
evangelical churches have a grave responsibil- 
ity. Our nation was founded upon the Bible, 
and that Bible should be kept in the public 
school, and every child taught to reverence it as 
the Holy Word of God containing His revelation 
to man. Men coming to this land should have 
impressed upon them that the message stamped 
so plainly upon our coins for which they came 
to toil, is the vital truth that underlies the suc- 
cess and strength of our country, and is primary 
to Americanism. "We do trust in God and we 
turn to God's Book for our daily guidance. Be- 
cause we have this trust and faith in the Al- 
mighty that led Israel from bondage to a land of 
liberty and freedom, we have the safest haven of 
refuge that the world possesses. Here is liberty 
for all who will respect it, and freedom of thought 
and action so long as these thoughts and acts 



90 PROBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

are in accord with the welfare of the whole peo- 
ple. This nation is not perfect but the greater 
number of its imperfections lie in the careless- 
ness with which we have been interpreting the 
life and teachings of Christ. This is the reason 
why an added emphasis should be placed upon 
an earnest study of God's Word, and a revival 
of spirituality that would stir men every where 
to know the will of God concerning them and 
their neighbors. "When this is done all the evils 
will perish. We are a Christian nation. Our 
future rests in the hands of the evangelical 
churches that founded it and made glorious its 
future. We must rescue our immigrants from 
the teachings of godless infidelity, setheistic so- 
cialism, and ignorant, anarchistic Bolsheviki 
teachers and agitators. To do this the church 
must be at the docks, among the tenements and 
on the street corners where men congregate with 
a message that burns its way into their hearts 
because it comes from hearts aflame with zeal 
for God. To have such workers the churches 
must be awake and alive with earnest zest for 
God and those whom Christ came to save. 



VII 

NOT BEVOLUTION. BUT REVIVAL 

FASHIONS change in the realm of think- 
ing, and are oft-times as fickle and gro- 
tesque as the style of women's costumes. 
Not long ago the prevailing fad was Germany's 
New Theology which discredited the genuine- 
ness and authenticity of the Bible as well as dis- 
carding the Deity of the Lord Jesus. Many 
able and devout men were swept from their feet. 
With the confidence that is born in one who be- 
lieves that he has possession of a newly discov- 
ered truth, great men became exponents of the 
German school, unconscious of the fact that in 
Europe the doctrines they advocated were fast 
sweeping the world to its most hideous of grew- 
some wars. The fad is fast passing away and 
men of vision are seeing, as never before, that 
an open Bible, revealing a Divine Saviour is the 
only hope of this sin and sorrow smitten world. 
We are discarding the German fads and coming 
back to the things worth while. Instead of revo- 

91 



92 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

lution in philosophical thinking we are coming 
back to a revival of truths Apostolic. 

Now, in these days, when "Eeconstruction" 
is being so much discussed, the fashionable 
thing is to become radical and pose, in words at 
least, as greatly desiring a revolution; a gen- 
eral upheaval of all existing order, the product 
of centuries of sacrificial toil, and the general 
reassembling of these wrecked pieces into some 
indefinite, but highly fantastic government of, 
for and by the rabble. Men and women, many 
of whom are leaders in education and religion, 
are being carried away by the glamor of bright- 
ly painted words and are advocating in college 
chair and orthodox pulpit, that which, in final 
analysis, is nothing but a sugar-coated social- 
ism or camouflaged Bolshevism. Instead of 
dwelling upon the constructive forces that rem- 
edy the evils, effect reforms and strengthen the 
entire social order, bringing greater joy and 
richer privileges to all divisions of men, they 
are placing emphasis upon the defects, contrib- 
uting to the restlessness and uneasiness of the 
world, encouraging discontent, and, by their 
veiled predictions and adroit insinuations of 
the coming time of terrible, upheaving, class 



NOT EE VOLUTION: BUT REVIVAL 93 

war-fare, they are carefully preparing the 
minds of their audiences for the more direct and 
brutal attacks of the less cultured agitators, 
who, in the form of a Lenine, a Trotzky or a 
Bela Kun, have laid in ashes the most coveted 
treasures of civilization. 

To preach discontent, unrest and the neces- 
sity of a mighty upheaval in order to right the 
present existing social wrongs is not only un- 
patriotic but highly inconsistent with our Chris- 
tian faith. The revolution that the socialists, I. 
W. "W. leaders and Bolsheviki are endeavoring 
to bring to pass, in the light of 1776 is found to 
be, not revolution as we understand the word, 
but the vilest of nihilistic devolution. It is not 
for the building of nations and freeing of peo- 
ples, but the most violent of anarchy. Where- 
ever it has had its way churches are desecrated, 
their altars corrupted by vilest deeds, their 
clergy tortured before assassinated, the popu- 
lace, men, women and children, slain by thou- 
sands for no other reason than that they are 
suspected of being anti-Bolsheviki. Russia un- 
der their rule, presents the most ghastly picture 
of modern history. Peasants have been killed 
3,000 and 4,000 at a time, and thrown into rivers 



94 PKOBLEM— OB OPPOETUNITY 

or ravines like beasts, and there is no one to ask 
indemnity for the women and children left alone 
in burned villages to die from hunger and cold. 

This is what socialism and its kindred " isms" 
are landing as a glorious victory for the com- 
mon people, and which they are secretly plot- 
ting for in America, and publicly confessing, 
at the close of every one of their letters when 
they write, " Yours for the revolution. ' ' 

This is w T hat the leaders of education and re- 
ligion encourage w T hen they advocate the upset- 
ting of the present order. For a clergyman to 
be guilty of this is to place himself with the 
early maligners of the Christian church who 
charged Jason and " certain brethren" before 
the city rulers, as being those "who turned the 
world upside down. ' ' 

That utterance was a lie, for Christianity has 
never turned the world "up side down." The 
one purpose of God and those whom he has hon- 
ored as his ambassadors, has been to keep the 
world ' l right side up ' ' and to prevent infidelity 
and ignorant atheism from tearing the whole 
social order to pieces. Christianity does not 
condone sin, it condemns it. Christianity does 
not tolerate sin, it destroys it. Christianity 



NOT EE VOLUTION: BUT EEVIVAL 95 

does not stand for slavery or oppression, it 
stands for liberty and moral freedom. Chris- 
tianity stands for all that the world and lovers 
of men can ask, bnt its methods are not what onr 
modern social workers call revolutionary. 

The cure for the world lies in a mighty re- 
ligious revival. The fact that Evangelical 
Christianity is that in the simple gospel of 
Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, can be 
found the complete and proven answer for every 
problem of the spiritual and social life. In this 
gospel we have food for the world's hunger, 
shelter for the world's outcasts, hope for a 
world's sorrow and distress. The Church is the 
leader of the world's reforms. To God's chil- 
dren is given the mightiest of all world-wide 
undertakings. In the gospel of Christ, that is 
able to remake every sinful heart and recreate 
every sin-polluted soul, is the mightiest force of 
the universe. To turn aside from preaching 
that, the greatest of all messages, and to dwell 
upon the sordid ills of human conditions, and 
predict a new order suddenly arising from some 
cataclysmic, man-made, upheaval, thus giving 

strength to the enemies of the Church and 
7 



96 PROBLEM— OR OPPOETUNITY 

Righteousness is a frightful betrayal of a most 
holy trust. 

What the world needs is not a revolution but 
a revival. K revival in the hearts of the church 
membership that shall bring it to a sense of 
what it means to be partakers of the divine na- 
ture as Peter so urgently insisted upon. A re- 
vival in the hearts of the clergy that shall re- 
establish it, and give it a burning message of 
the cursedness of sin and the glories of Christ's 
redemption. 

The steadying power of God is what the world 
needs, then will reforms come and wrongs be 
righted. To be persuaded of this the world 
must have positive preaching. The pulpit has 
no right whatever to distribute doubts and sow 
discord in an already fitful, restless world. Hu- 
manity is truly a storm tossed sea but a re- 
ligious leader should not permit the waves to 
toss and unsettle him, but, because he is the 
child of God, should walk steadily and unfalter- 
ingly as Christ showed how on Galilee. A! 
panic stricken multitude has never been calmed 
by its leader crying "Fire"! £ voice, calmed 
and steadied by the spiritual secret of how to 
quiet both the stormy sea and panic-smitten 



NOT BE VOLUTION: BUT EEVIVAL 97 

heart, is the supreme need, and one which every 
man of God, within and without the pulpit, has 
the power to use. It comes, not through men's 
philosophies, but by simply yielding one's self 
obediently unto God. Theories about God, 
Christ and the Holy Spirit avail nothing and 
the congregation is, as a general rule, the worse 
for having heard them ; but when he, as an ear- 
nest soul, yields himself entirely to the will of 
God and is willing to put the promises of God 
to personal test, then the preacher has no lack 
of themes and the world, through him, finds the 
longed for remedies for its sins. 

Gypsy Smith, one of the chief est of God's 
loyal stewards, once said to Alexander Mac- 
laren, that " prince of preachers," "I have 
never heard you preach any of the uncertain- 
ties." The great Scotch preacher turned to- 
ward the young evangelist, and Gypsy Smith 
says that his large blue eyes shone like ''two 
lakes kissed by the sun" as he said: "I never 
preach anything that I have not proved. 1 ' 

There is the secret for meeting the present 
opportunity. The only unanswerable argu- 
ments are those based upon personal experi- 
ence. Incredulous scoffers may ask puzzling 



98 PEOBLEM— OB OPPOKTUNITY 

questions as did tlie Pharisee of the man born 
blind. He had little schooling and a philosoph- 
ical discussion would have caused him to stam- 
mer and fail. He had not had a long experience 
but he had had a vital one. There were many 
things that he did not know but there was on© 
thing that he did know and by sticking to that 
he revealed the genius of great preaching: 
"Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not : but 
one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now 
I see." He won by preaching a positive mes- 
sage and he was positive because he had put 
Christ to the test. 

Preaching Christ is the broadest and most 
comprehensive methods of procedure for that 
simple story includes all things. In one moment 
it destroys an evil habit that science in a life 
time could not cure, but rather made the worse. 
It takes the foulest mind and instantly purifies 
and cleanses it to the whiteness of a virgin soul. 
The despondent soul comes to Christ, and finds 
hope's rainbow arching every cloud, until both 
cloud and rainbow fade into the splendor of a 
new-born day. The sorrowful find comfort. 
Hatred that might have slain another becomes 
love so true that it would gladly die to give an- 



NOT EE VOLUTION: BUT EEVIVAL 99 

other life. Children are safely sheltered, while, 
before the gospel 's keen-edged sword, iniquities 
perish and the world is freed from blighting 
curse. Where it is preached is found the high- 
est form of government with just and righteous 
laws. The much-to-be-desired safety of the 
world will come, not at the command of the ad- 
vocates of unrest and discontent, but through 
the influence of those who tell the story of Christ 
and him crucified. 

This is no new truth. It is as old and there- 
fore as powerful as its Author. Paul felt it 
when he entered Eome. Possessing a scholar- 
ship unsurpassed, his utterances have stood the 
test of centuries. Entering the heathen city of 
Eome with its great social problems and puz- 
zling philosophies he felt that it would require 
more than man's hand and strength to liberate 
the surf, to uproot prejudices and reconstruct 
the social order, but he was not swept from his 
feet. He had a message that had stood the test 
and been proven. Looking at the proud, sinful 
people whom he pitied and would win for his 
Master he sounded forth the battle cry: "I am 
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is 
the power of God." 



100 PBOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITT 

A tottering world needs more than the puny- 
arm of human philosophy to support it — it 
needs the power of God. To preach it knowing 
that it is the hope and the only hope of man is 
the greatest of all missions. Preached with ear- 
nestness it takes lodgment in human hearts and 
men become convicted of sin and can find no 
rest until they cry aloud: "What must I do to 
be saved f ' ' Then can we say with the mighty 
preacher of old: "Believe on the Lord Jesus 

Christ and thou shalt be saved, and THY 

HOUSE.' ' God's plan is from the individual 
to the home, from the home to the government, 
for the homes make the nation. 



VIII 
AN ALL BOUND MINISTEY 

EVANGELISM is the salvation of the 
churches. The church without a passion 
for saving the lost is little, if any better, 
than an ethical society or fraternal organiza- 
tion. The church differs from all other institu- 
tions in that its prime objective is to seek for 
and bring into its fellowship those who are 
counted unworthy by all other organizations 
and, by leading them to know our Lord and 
Master who is the Head of the church, make 
them worthy to be received into all or any other 
organization on earth. 

The fact that the church building has been 
dedicated to Christ with elaborate ceremony 
availeth nothing. The golden cross upon the 
tower; the crucifix above the altar; the repre- 
sentations of Christ in the stained glass of the 
windows are of little more value than the influ- 
ence that their artistic value may prove to the 
sensitive soul. Stately music edifies and often 
inspires to worship but in itself is of little value 

101 



102 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

in the great strife. These are means that should 
be used to an end, and that end is, to lead the as- 
sembled individuals to the point where they will 
yield their lives to the Spirit of Christ and dedi- 
cate themselves fully to a life of rescuing the 
perishing. Without this Spirit the individual 
church organization is only a social club tend- 
ing toward spiritual development, without much 
visible fruit for the effort. To live the Christ 
life is more than to confess His name — it is to 
permit Him to relive His earthly life in us, so 
that His conception of life will be our concep- 
tion of life and His objective will be the one ob- 
ject of all our endeavors. His one purpose on 
earth was to redeem a world. All other 
thoughts were cast aside upon the Mount of 
Temptation. For this cause He forsook His 
home and loved ones at Nazareth, endured 
weariness, braved dangers, smiled at discom- 
fort, bowed to suffering, carried the cross, 
prayed for the soldiers who murdered Him, and 
smiled in death because the pains of the cruci- 
fixion were forgotten in the joy of pardoning a 
penitent thief. Upon the Mount of Transfigura- 
tion the one theme of the returning Prophets 
was the ransom of sinners. The last words of 



AN ALL BOUND MINISTRY 103 

the ascending Christ were, "go preach and bap- 
tize." 

The objection is sometimes raised to appeals 
for evangelism that the chnrch has other func- 
tions than just seeking for the lost all the time, 
that there are the saints who must be ministered 
nnto and edified. This is indeed an important 
part of the preacher's task and privilege, but 
what can be more edifying to any saint than a 
world vision such as Christ possessed and would 
have us own. Eeligious teachings are valueless 
unless they are put to practical individual use. 
Should the saints be edified with discourses on 
the uses, power and privileges of prayer? Cer- 
tainly. Then let them have more than the words 
of the most helpful sermon, let the pastor pro- 
pose a definite line of activity that can succeed 
only through much earnest prayer and teach 
them to use this wonderful key to the store- 
houses of God's infinite power and love. Out- 
line a campaign of prayer. Furnish the people 
with prayer cards and persuade them to fill 
these cards with names of the unsaved who 
ought to be led to Christ. Urge upon them to 
pray for these people morning and night and 
they will find, through this intercessory prayer, 



104 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

a spiritual edification surpassing that of anyj 
sermon on prayer. 

Should the saints be comforted with thoughts 
of heaven ? Certainly. Comfort them with the 
thoughts of that abiding place which Christ is 
preparing for all those who love Him. But let 
them know that heaven's greatest joy, outside 
of meeting Christ and their departed friends 
will be the meeting of those whom they have led 
to Christ. They must not be permitted to enter 
heaven empty handed. The failure of the 
church to present the program will be their eter- 
nal loss. 

Should they be strengthened by being taught 
about the power of a conquering faith? Cer- 
tainly. By faith are we saved. We "walk by 
faith." We enter "by faith into this grace 
wherein we stand.' ' We "live by faith of the 
Son of God." "Without faith it is impossible 
to please God." But when is faith so trium- 
phant and glorified as when exercised by some 
righteous soul, it has lifted a life that the world 
called hopeless, and brought it to the redeem- 
ing, saving power of God ! A true pastor must 
lead his people to a faith like that. "And when 
they were come, and had gathered the church 



AN ALL BOUND MINISTRY 105 

together, they rehersed all that God had done 
for them, and how he had opened the door of 
faith unto the Gentiles. ' ' (Acts 14 : 27. ) Faith 
must open the hitherto tightly barred doors. 

Should they be encouraged to give testimony? 
Certainly. "And they overcame him by the 
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their tes- 
timony : and they loved not their lives unto the 
death." (Rev. 12: 11.) To know the fullness 
of God's power one must proclaim his faith in 
Christ by word of lip, as well as by deed of 
daily life. But the testimony that counts most 
in heaven is not the one uttered in the closed 
room to a small group of others who trust 
Christ, although this is not without its reward, 
it is the testimony of those who loved not their 
lives unto death. The testimony uttered amid 
the laughter and jeers of worldliness, uttered 
against difficulties and oppositions by those who 
dared to brave death for the sake of proclaim- 
ing Christ their Saviour. "We must not forget 
to lay emphasis upon the last clause of this won- 
derful verse that so beautifully opens the gate 
of heaven for us to look through. "They loved 
not their lives unto the death." 



106 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

Should they be taught the secret for overcom- 
ing temptation? Certainly. Temptations are 
overcome the moment we cease giving them 
thought room. By "the compulsive power' 9 of 
a great purpose or love, many men have tri- 
umphed over their besetting sins. If one keeps 
busy about his Father 's business, a long life of 
victorious living lies before him. 

Development demands exercise. All round 
development requires all round exercises. This 
is not possible in the regular routine of our 
modern church life. Evangelism is needed for 
perfection of development. Evangelism is not 
narrow. It is not the exercising of one group 
of faculties and thus developing lopsided char- 
acter. It is the uniting of all the spiritual 
powers and attributes in one great enterprise 
that gives perfect development to each and 
rounds out the entire life and character to the 
greatest possible perfection. Christ's program 
is a perfect, all-around program, having in mind 
the perfection of all who yield themselves to 
Him. 



IX 
WHAT CHEIST EXPECTS OF US 

THE churches of America should never 
have consented to close their doors dur- 
ing the winter of 1917-18 so long as the 
theaters and moving-picture houses were per- 
mitted to keep open. Fuel was precious but not 
valuable enough to be saved at such a cost. In- 
stead of yielding to the demand, it would have 
been far more patriotic for the churches to have 
insisted upon their right, basing their conten- 
tion upon the ground that they have been a 
greater contribution to the nation than the 
places of worldly amusement. Whenever the 
fuel situation became so acute that the hundreds 
of large playhouses that had to be kept warm 
seven days out of the week were compelled to 
keep closed then the church would gladly yield 
her rights to an open house on the Sabbath day, 
but not until then. 

The act of compelling the churches to close 
while some of the theaters were producing plays 
that made light of sacred things and poured 

107 



108 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

contempt upon religion, was accepted by many; 
as the national rating of the church. It ap- 
peared to many that, in the eyes of our national 
leaders, the church occupied a place of less value 
than the theater. The tired out people must 
have amusement, therefore the playhouses were 
a necessity, but the church has so little value to 
the social world that, in times of stress, it may 
be considered as something nonessential. That 
such a deduction is positively unfair must be, 
conceded by all who are acquainted with the 
lives and characters of the men at the head of 
our national affairs, but it will require many 
months of honest endeavor to blot out the er- 
roneous impression that, after all, the church is 
not important. 

The pulpit is the most important institution 
in our national and social life, and even, in 
times of war, should not wave its place, or per^ 
mit itself to be looked upon as merely a plat- 
form for proclaiming national propaganda. 
The church has a spiritual message to the souls 
of men which she needs never, under any cir- 
cumstances, omit, and for which she never 
should have an apology. The world expects us 
to be faithful and honest to our trust. A great 



WHAT CHRIST EXPECTS OF US 109 

Bishop was invited to preach to a group of 
American officers located in a famous French 
camp. Believing that these soldiers would not 
care to hear the gospel, he gave a very carefully 
prepared address upon the merits of various 
Pan-American interests, something "to appeal 
to military men." At the close of the service 
one of the officers said to a secretary of the 
Young Men's Christian Association: "Why in 
hell didn 't he give us the gospel ! That is what 
we expected to hear from a Bishop. We need 
that far more than a talk of military affairs." 

That the pulpit should not be slow in uttering 
every possible wore! that would stir the hearts 
of his people to heroic patriotism, and to sup- 
port every movement that had for its purpose 
the assisting of our soldiers on battlefield or in 
hospital cot, none will deny. The magnificent 
service rendered thus by the church of America 
will always glow upon the pages of American 
history, but the doing of these things should not 
exclude the greater service that it must render 
the nation. Even our worst critics expect us to 
stand four-square in regard to our attitude to 
the spiritual truths as revealed in the inspired 
Word of God. One of our great divines whose 



110 PBOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

books, when he confined himself to the things 
eternally fundamental to all spiritual living, 
were of inestimable value to the church but who, 
in a later volume, left these essential verities, to 
discuss the ethics of war, in which appears the 
following statement : 

"The proper thing to say to a conscientious 
objector is not a quotation from the book of 
Nehemiah but a few passages from the lips of 
Woodrow Wilson. He is our leader, and we 
have a right to expect God to speak to us 
through him. ' ' 

A critic who, throughout his writings reveals 
a spirit antagonistic to the church says of this : 
"Apparently, then, the divine right of Kings 
has passed into the divine inspiration of Presi- 
dents ; and for a (mentioning the de- 
nomination of the author referred to) this is, as 
the English would say, 'Coming it rather 
strong. ' 

' ' This is the penalty Dr. — has to pay 

for his attempt to reconcile his prewar pacifism 
with his later advocacy of the war ; it is always 
difficult to square the circle. Not that he is not 
altogether honest and very brave. But he is 
forever haunted by the past, and he gives us the 



WHAT CHEIST EXPECTS OF US 111 

impression that he is trying to stand four-square 
with what he said before the war and at the 
same time say that that does not apply to this 
particular case. This does not make for sound 
thinking. ' ' 

Saying that it might have been better for the 
church itself if it had been closed with the dec- 
laration of war, the critic, referring to the 
churches of today continues : c l There is neither 
vision nor prophetic word. The pulpit is en- 
veloped in a dense fog." 

This criticism was not made of Dr. Jowett or 
of many other earnest preachers who forgot not 
the one theme that appeals forever to the hearts 
of men. Men, everywhere, expect the pulpit to 
ring true on things eternal. 

The graduate of an eastern college, a young 
man holding an important position in govern- 
ment service, who had been regular in his at- 
tendance of the Sunday hours of worship, after 
the war began, ceased to attend divine worship. 
When urged by members of his home to attend 
the morning service with them replied that it 
was useless for him to go, that he had heard and 
read about the war all week and he wished to be 

freed from it on Sunday mornings. He was per- 
8 



112 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

suaded to attend a church service where a very- 
noted divine was announced to preach. His ser- 
mon proved to be a plea for women to engage 
in knitting during the course of which he said : 

1 ' This war is a revival of religion. A sacrifice 
is a sacrifice whether it be great or small. 
Christ died upon the cross — that was a sacrifice. 
A woman giving up her social engagements to 
roll bandages for soldiers is a sacrifice, and per- 
haps just as great a sacrifice as Christ dying 
upon the cross.' ' 

• ' There, ' ' said the young man, ' ' is the spirit- 
ual food a young man receives today. From 
such as that I am expected to derive strength to 
meet temptation. A society woman rolling 
bandages may be doing more for the world than 

Christ" 

Through his college training the young man 
is practically a Unitarian in belief, but he ex- 
pects the preacher to ring true in his teachings. 
So long as God makes men with hearts that long 
will the gospel have the supreme place in the 
social and national life. The doors of the church 
should never be closed, the pulpit should know 
Christ and Him crucified. 



WHAT IS KELIGION? 

WHAT is it to be religious? 
It is far more than is included in 
many of the answers submitted by fa- 
mous teachers of religion. One will turn to the 
Old Testament and quote: "It is to do justice 
and love mercy and to walk humbly before 
God, ' ' and very much of true religion is included 
in these words of the ancient man of God. An- 
other teacher will turn to the New, Testament 
and quote : ' ' True religion and undefiled before 
God and the Father is this, To visit the father- 
less and widows in their affliction, and to keep 
himself unspotted from the world. ' ' This verse 
encloses a vast field of righteous activity that 
challenges the best in every heart. Another will 
say: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy 
neighbor as thyself." This is a great task and 
a wonderful privilege, but w T as never intended 
by the Master to be a definition of religion. It 

113 



114 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

is a summary of the commandments, covering 
ones relationship with God, his neighbor and 
himself. He must love all three, placing God 
first, himself and his neighbor equally. 

When a man comes, tired of his sins and sick 
of his old life, and asks us the way to God, what 
shall we tell him? 

Tell him " to do justice, love mercy, and walk 
humbly before God," for that is religion, and 
what will be his answer ? Instantly he will look 
up and say : l i But how can I, a sinner, do these 
things?' J Perhaps his besetting sin is dishon- 
esty. He has robbed and stolen by force or cun- 
ning and every cent that he possesses is stained 
with the red blood of its rightful owner. Can 
he undo his old nature and do justly, simply be- 
cause he is requested to do so? He may desire 
to, but will his old nature permit him ? Perhaps 
he has been domineering and cruel. Every fibre 
of mind and soul is for self at the sacrifice of an- 
other. He is tired of it all but can he quit when 
his whole nature cries out for these things the 
moment a new opportunity arises! How can 
one walk humbly before God, when he is arro- 
gant and proud by nature f Can he remake him- 
self? 



WHAT IS KELIGION? 115 

Perhaps he has been impure. Passions flame 
and his inner life is a leper 's camp, how can he 
keep himself unspotted from the world? Is 
there a man strong enough to make himself love 
that which, by nature he hates ? Are the natu- 
ral heart affections instantly changed at the 
command of the will? Can you make yourself 
love a person or God? 

These quotations used so often as definitions 
of religion are only pictures of Christian con- 
duct. Eeligion is not a change of clothing, the 
acceptance of a new intellectual conception of 
life and one's relations with man and God, it is 
not church membership or partaking of sacra- 
ments, it is but one thing — a new life — made 
possible by a spiritual rebirth — the reconstruc- 
tion of life in every phase and purpose, because 
the heart, the inner life, has been reconstructed 
by the power of God. 

Men must be remade and the supreme purpose 
of the church is to proclaim the good tidings 
that this remaking is possible for every indi- 
vidual, high, low, rich, poor, educated, ignorant, 
mystic, materialist, emotional, liberal minded, 
conservative. Amid the world's strife and tur- 
moil to proclaim the message: "I am not 



116 PBOBLEM--OK OPPOBTUNITY 

ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth." 

If we as leaders will only leave the winding, 
confusing unending labyrinths of our own philo- 
sophical thinking where we become obscured in 
murkey fogs and come back to our text books of 
elementary psychology we would readily see the 
vital necessity for such a message as the Bible 
charges us to give to a world that everyone ad- 
mits has gone wrong. 

No man is able to save himself. The human 
will is not strong enough to lift a man out of his 
own appetites and passions. Eesolutions are 
broken as soon as made. The cry of every such 
soul is: "Oh that I might get away from my- 
self!" There is the rub. The trouble is not 
that there is something from without that bears 
down and crushes. The problem is always the 
problem of self. Suicide is not an effort to get 
away from environment but a vain struggle to 
"get away from myself." 

He cannot educate himself away from the evil 
for scholarship only supplies the colors with 
which the sinful heart paints still more damag- 
ing pictures of sin. 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 117 

Others cannot cure him. Friends may allay 
his thirst, satisfy his hunger, afford shelter, 
give consolation in sorrow and encouragement 
in hours of disheartedness, but neither friend- 
ship nor love can change the stony heart. If the 
love of one could transform the heart of an- 
other, then a mother's love would rebuild and 
recreate every prodigal son of the world today. 

Good environment can lift many a crushing 
burden from childhood's shoulders and widen 
the horizon for many a cramped, disheartened 
soul, so that they may face a future filled with 
promise, but the dregs of society today consists 
largely of individuals who spent their childhood 
hours in good homes surrounded by song, and 
art, and music, who would not be bound by these 
beautiful things, and, breaking away, fell into 
helpless disgrace. 

He can neither apprehend nor enjoy God be- 
cause he has not the capacity for these things. 
"But the natural man receiveth not the things 
of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness 
unto him : neither can they know them, because 
they are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. 2 : 14.) 
'All the preaching in the world will not quicken 
his apperception in spiritual matters until he is 



118 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

first converted. To tell a man to love God and 
be saved, is folly for no sinner, -with unregener- 
ate heart, can learn to love God. "Herein is 
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, 
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our 
sins. (I John 4: 10.) "We love him because 
he first loved us. ' ' (I John 4 : 19. )" 

If love for God had been the condition by 
which you and I should have been redeemed we 
could not be in the fold today. The sinner does 
not love God, but because God loves the sinner, 
he may come, just as he is without one plea but 
that the blood was spilled for him, and God ac- 
cepts, receives, and he is no longer the old man, 
but the new man in Christ Jesus. 

Salvation demands a definite act of the indi- 
vidual will in self-surrender, and cannot be be- 
stowed by another. How inconsistent the re- 
ported act of Father Brady of the Fifth Ma- 
rines who, a few moments before the zero hour, 
turned toward the German lines and "gave ab- 
solution to the Teutons in front' ' and then 
turned to the Marines ready to spring over the 
top saying: "I have given them absolution! 
Now, men, go get 'em!" Salvation is not man 



WHAT IS EELIGION? 119 

bestowed and unconsciously received; it is a 
God given experience. 

The new birth comes first, then follow the ex- 
periences which men oft times mistake for re- 
ligion, and think that the doing of them is the 
key to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Other religions workers speak of the sinful 
soul as if it were the blank sheet of paper to 
which Locke incorrectly compared the childish 
intellect. They speak as though it only required 
a conscious effort to erase all that has been 
written and to write whatever they may choose. 
They do not know human nature. They have 
never studied the human heart. Their philoso- 
phy is only brain deep. A man abandons sin 
only when he uses his will in the act of a com- 
plete and unconditional surrender to Christ and 
welcomes the Spirit of Christ within his heart. 
The old man must die. This was the secret of 
Paul's conversion as he himself testifies : "I am 
crucified with Christ ; nevertheless I live ; yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life that 
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the 
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for 
me." (Gal. 2: 20.) 



XI 

ENCOUEAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 

T I ^HE world is looking expectantly toward 
the churches for their answer to the rid- 
icule and sarcasm that has been heaped 
upon them by a world that believes that the 
church has failed to make good during the war. 
A British General attached to a mission in 
Washington is said to have replied to the inter- 
rogation, "What is the church accomplishing 
during the war?" "I am afraid that the dear 
old church has missed the 'bus this time.' " 

The coming of the war was pronounced the 
doom and destruction of Christianity. Blatant 
infidelity and atheistic socialism paraded the 
thoroughfares declaring triumphantly: "The 
Church is a failure !" The cheaper magazines 
lent themselves to the discussion of the "pass- 
ing of Christianity" because the large, sensa- 
tional headlines created the needful curiosity to 
insure large sales of those particular editions. 

Upon the Church which was never intended to 
be the ruler of men's temporal affairs, was 

120 



ENCOUEAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 121 

heaped all the abuse and calumny, while that 
goodly number of most eminent statesmen of all 
lands whose task it was to guide the affairs of 
men in paths of peace, and upon whom the war 
swept down with the suddenness and swiftness 
of an avalanche, are left without criticism. 
Science, when prostituted by men of evil heart, 
is left uncondemned; while the futility of cul- 
ture and education to save a world from war- 
fare was never even hinted at. All the blame, 
and calumny, and slander was heaped upon the 
church. 

Why? 

Because the evil-minded workers of iniquity, 
who are the real instigators of this abuse, have 
always looked upon the church, with her white 
banners of purity and righteousness, as their 
most dangerous foe. Science can be prosti- 
tuted, so that instead of being a servant to 
serve, it can become a demoniacal monster to 
destroy happiness and homes. Education can 
be utilized by baseness to sharpen her weapons 
and increase her shrewdness in carrying out her 
bastard plans. Eeligion alone has stood the 
fiery test, and the world is now looking to see if 



122 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

she shall emerge from the furnace without the 
smell of smoke upon her garments. 

This is most encouraging. An orator has half 
won the battle when his audience is expectant. 
It makes no difference whether his audience be 
friendly or antagonistic, he has half won his 
battle, if they are waiting expectantly for his 
first word. The rest of the victory depends 
largely upon what that first word is. 

The world is waiting to see what the Church 
will say first. 

If she whines, if she tries to argue, if she 
speaks in an apologetic tone, she has lost all. If 
she speaks with a voice of authority a message 
that has to do with the hearts and consciences of 
men, if she smites sin with mighty stroke and 
points the sinful to their mighty Deliverer, then 
shall she hold her place as the rightful leader of 
men. 

The unrest of the social world is also an en- 
couragement. When men are satisfied with 
themselves and their surroundings, the work of 
the prophet is hard and profitless. When men 
are not at ease, but tossed about by mighty 
problems that concern themselves, his home and 



ENCOURAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 123 

their nation, then are hearts open to the words 
of God. Such is the universal condition today. 

Never was organized labor so restless and 
dissatisfied. The whole world threatens to be 
enveloped by united strikes. The roar and tu- 
mult of the battlefield is giving way to the more 
ominous, deathlike silence of deserted work- 
shops where the wheels have stopped and the 
fires burned down in the furnaces. 

The business leaders of the world, upon whom 
the permanent prosperity of labor rests, faces 
depressed markets, unable to move intelligently 
because of the long deferred action on the part 
of those delegated to bring lasting peace to the 
nations. 

There are wrongs, great monstrous wrongs 
that men say must be righted. No honest stu- 
dent can deny their hideous reality. Long years 
ago they could have been easily crushed beneath 
an honest application of Christ's faultless 
truths — it is a harder struggle, for, while the 
church slept, these wrongs have bred and multi- 
plied and trained themselves in a hellish, damn- 
ing cooperativeness, that feels confident that it 
is mighty enough to blot out of existence, the 
church which they so thoroughly despise. 



124 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

These are tremendous times ! 

Thrones totter crushing their rulers beneath 
them and none stoop to pick up their bent and 
mis-shapen crowns. Wronged human beings, 
ignorant because they have been denied educa- 
tion ; brutish, because they have known nothing 
but oppression ; cruel, because they have fought 
for existence amid the putrid bodies of those 
who had starved to death ; maddened and fren- 
zied because of the unutterable hideousness of 
it all, have taken up the fallen scepters and, 
drunk with the blood of their one-time oppres- 
sors, they are threatening the foundation of all 
good governments. None have expressed it bet- 
ter than the gifted writer, Angela Morgan, 

1 ' Yea with these eyes have I looked on the depth of hell 
Where men and women, better under the sod — 
Men and women, made in the likeness of God — 
Eotted in filth and poverty and disease, 
While wealth went by in its golden ease. 
Answer world! When shall we fight for these? 
Which of you shall spring to the people's plight? 
Answer soldiers! You who are trained to fight ?" 

There is an encouraging restlessness in the 
world today and no wonder that in the same 
poem we find these words : 



ENCOURAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 125 

"Yea I believe in armies, weaponed by nobler laws, 
Marching straight 
To the enemies' gate 
To fight the human cause. 
Searching the leprous places 
Where sin and pestilence hide. 
"Where the real foe of the race is, 
To smite the leer from the faces 
Of Privilege, Lust and Pride. 
Hail men of the future! 
The world's real patriots ye; 
Above the dead 
I hear your tread 
That sets the people free! 
And I hear the fife, and I hear the drum, 
I hear the shouting wherever you come, 
And I see the glory in your face 
Who march to save the race. 

Justice shall be your weapon, and Truth the bomb you hurl, 
Flag of united nations the banner you unfurl. 
Hail men of the present — do I hear your answering cry? 
1 Here am I ! Here ami!'" 

Another element of encouragement, that 
should stimulate the church to enthusiastic en- 
deavor, is that, in spite of the cruelty and hard- 
heartedness of war, men's hearts are tender. 
The first time that I was subjected to German 
fire was when I was acting as a hut secretary at 
Beaumont, a little village on the advanced por- 
tion of the Toul sector. The few shattered walls 



126 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

remaining of that once prosperous French vil- 
lage were lying at the foot of Montsec, then oc- 
cupied by the enemy as one of their strongest 
and best fortified positions and as a command- 
ing observation post. Three or four days of the 
week were spent wading the water in the front 
line trenches about Seichprey and Xiray giving 
away all the chocolate and cakes that I and two 
runners, detailed by the commanding officer, 
could carry for free distribution to the boys on 
duty. The supplies distributed at this time were 
purchased from the "Y" canteen by me with 
money that had been contributed to me by 
friends in America who had heard me preach 
and lecture and wished to have part in my serv- 
ice. Later on our drive to the Argonne, the en- 
tire stock, consisting of several car loads of 
goods, were given absolutely to the fighting and 
especially the wounded soldier as a free-will 
gift from the treasury of the Y. M. C. A. 
Three or four days were thus spent, by me on 
the Toul front, the remaining days and nights 
in serving hot chocolate and whatever com- 
modities could be purchased in the everdecreas- 
ing French market along the front lines. We 
were constantly under fire. The dooryards and 



ENCOUEAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 127 

fields were pitted with shell-holes. The few 
remaining trees were either torn by shell or en- 
tirely killed by the fumes of poison gases. One 
afternoon when the shelling had been particu- 
larly violent and the "Fritzies" had picked off 
an ambulance and an army truck from "Dead 
man's curve" about a quarter of a mile away, I 
took thirty minutes to walk across an open field 
to visit and serve some of the artillery boys 
whose big guns were stealthily hidden about a 
half mile away. It was in the Spring of the year 
and the fields were filled with wild flowers. Ee- 
turning to the dilapidated rooms in the old 
chateau where the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation afforded the boys the only public place 
where they could congregate, I gathered from 
about the shell holes a large bouquet of flowers, 
placed them in an old rusty tin can, the only one 
available, and set them upon the broken mantle 
above the unused fireplace, in the "writing 
room" where the boys sat talking and playing 
checkers. The writing paper was unused for 
the lads returning from the trenches were too 
tired to write. Some of them were using bitter 
profanity as they cursed the army, the trenches, 
the Germans and their own luck, when, above 
9 



128 PBOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

the bouquet I placed a sign upon which I had 
carefully penciled this sentiment, in letters large 
enough to be easily read : 

The elowees of Feance aee 
sweet, but i know a little giel 
back home who is a geeat deal 

SWEETEE. Do YOU? 

Imagine my pleasure when the notice was 
greeted by applause. Instantly the profanity 
stopped and every eye was rivited upon the 
flowers and then on a far away vision. Tears 
were plainly visible in many eyes. One rugged 
fellow left his place and came over to the mantle 
to get a better view of the flowers as though he 
longed to breathe the sweetness of their perfume 
with the sweetness of the memories they awoke. 
After while, in a rather unsteady voice he ex- 
claimed: "You bet I know her, and she wears a 
ring I gave her. ' ' Then some fellow answered : 
' i Not on your life pard. The test one wears the 
ring that I picked out." "Well any way, she's 
the best one for me. Mr. Secretary, give me 
some paper and an envelope I'm going to write 
her a letter. ' ' Within fifteen minutes every fel- 
low was writing a letter home. Our soldiers 
have tender hearts, so have all the Americans. 



ENCOUEAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 129 

One day when I was in the Divisional Head- 
quarters of one of the most heroic Divisions of 
our American army, my conference with one of 
the Majors was interrupted by the entrance of 
a superior officer who had come to announce the 
promotion of this Major to the rank of a Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, and asked him to arise and take 
the oath of allegiance as he assumed his new 
rank. While the oath was being administered 
there was a smile upon the faces of everyone 
present, for many of his associates had come in 
to witness his promotion and extend their con- 
gratulations. The taking of the oath was more 
or less formal but when the officer had finished 
repeating the words and had received the affirm- 
ative answer, he took the newly made Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel by the hand and added : " God bless 
you in your new office and keep you worthy of 
the honor bestowed upon you. May you be kept 
well and safely sheltered from bursting shell 
and taken back in safety to the little woman and 
kiddies that are waiting for you across the sea." 
The gathering was composed of rough soldiers, 
the speaker was a rugged son of battle, but the 
words were a prayer that brought tears to the 
eyes of every officer, and their handshakes of 



130 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

congratulation were fervent and eloquent be- 
cause they were given in silence, their hearts 
being too full for the lips to speak. 

The soldier 's heart is a tender heart. During 
the heavy strain which the early days of the war 
placed upon our Navy, a plain seaman, while 
standing watch on the bridge of one of our 
American battleships, had a wireless message 
placed in his hands. 

"Little Donald passed away yesterday. Fu- 
neral Wednesday afternoon. Can you come? 
Mary." 

His duty as a seaman was momentarily for- 
gotten. The wide vista of wind-swept waters 
faded from his vision, and the picture of a little 
cottage rose before him, as it lay amid the dark- 
ening shadows of that bereavement. He saw 
Mary standing by the little casket looking upon 
the calm face of their only child, their only hope 
and pride, and there was no one there to com- 
fort her. His great loss was keenly felt and 
soon his form shook with sobs. 

i ( What 's the matter, my lad 1 ' ' asked the cap- 
tain as he came upon the bridge. 

Standing at attention the sorrowing seaman 
handed the captain the message. 



ENCOURAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 131 

" Where do you live!" asked the sympathetic 
officer. 

The sailor told him, mentioning an Ohio city. 

Instantly the captain began to calculate. In 
a few minutes his own boat, which was already 
headed shoreward, began to plow through the 
waters under a full head of steam. The wire- 
less was flashing messages to all the sister ships, 
and the sailor was ordered to make ready for 
the journey home. Soon their ship was met by 
a swifter battleship. It required but a few min- 
utes for the eager seaman to climb down the 
side of one ship into a lowered boat and then up 
the rope ladder hanging down the side of the 
larger and swifter vessel, while the signal flags 
of the boat he was leaving were fluttering their 
message of "Good Luck." 

For full two hundred miles the second great 
battleship plowed madly through the waters to- 
ward the shore when it was met by one of our 
Government 's swiftest torpedo-boat destroyers, 
which had been summoned by wireless, and 
which, upon receiving its passenger, quivered 
and throbbed as its mighty engines hurried over 
the rolling billows to the nearest port. 



132 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

A taxi awaited the seaman when he leaped 
ashore. Arriving at the station he had but four 
minutes to purchase his ticket and reach the 
train, but the following day, just one hour be- 
fore the funeral, the sailor stood in that little 
Ohio cottage looking at the calm face of his baby 
boy with the mother and wife safely sheltered 
in his arms. War does not necessarily make 
men brutal, but more appreciative of the tender 
feelings of love and home, longing for the deeper 
and richer things of life. 

Another one of the encouraging conditions 
amid which we now labor is the enactment of 
national, bone-dry prohibition. The worst en- 
emy that the church has ever had is the liquor 
traffic. It assaulted every faithful minister and 
maligned every evangelist that lifted up his 
voice and influence against it. It has now been 
outlawed, and while the liquor interests are in- 
sisting upon another election and insinuating 
that the law was enacted by slackers, the fact 
confronts the world that our nation is and ever 
will be a dry nation. These efforts on the part 
of the liquor men demand that we be on the alert 
and support the anti-saloon organizations with 
word and money in their work of combating the 



ENCOUBAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 133 

evil, but we must ever keep in mind that the 
church has gained a wonderful victory. With 
the liquor traffic destroyed the church can go 
forward with confidence demanding respect 
where once she was received with sneers and 
scorns. Time will prove that this enactment of 
law was the highest gift that one generation ever 
bestowed upon another generation. Today we 
can quote from Virgil 's Ecloga IV as never be- 
fore : ' ' Smile on the new-born babe, for a new 
world greets his appearing. ' ' 

Encouragement is to be gained from the atti- 
tude of American wealth toward the great in- 
dustrial questions that arise. This is illustrated 
in an address on "Brotherhood of Men and Na- 
tions'' which Mr. John D. Eockefeller, Jr., de- 
livered before the Civic and Commercial Club 
at Denver, Colorado, June 13, 1918. 

After describing conditions in the early days 
of industry where "the owner of a plant or busi- 
ness also discharged the functions of the board 
of directors and the officers including superin- 
tendent and manager ' ' and when the contact of 
owner and employee was so close and the spirit 
of brotherhood so developed that they often ad- 
dressed each other by their first names ; he com- 



134 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

pared them with this age of organization, where 
the employees are numbered by the hundreds 
and thousands, and where frequently the plants 
of one organization are scattered in various sec- 
tions of the country and sometimes even in for- 
eign countries, and added : 

"Instead of Brotherhood there has developed 
distrust, bitterness, the strike and the lockout. 

"Often, therefore, the conclusion is reached 
that Labor and Capital are enemies ; that their 
interests are antagonistic ; that each must arm 
itself to wrest from the other its share of the 
product of their common toil. This conclusion 
is false, and grows out of unnatural conditions. 

"Labor and Capital are partners; their in- 
terests are common interests; neither can get 
on without the other. Labor must look to Capi- 
tal to supply the tools, machinery and working 
capital, without which it cannot make its vital 
contribution to industry, and Capital is equally 
powerless to turn a wheel in industry without 
Labor. 

"Neither can attain the fullest permanent 
measure of success unless the other does also, 
and the unnatural conditions, namely, the ab- 
sence of contact between owner and employee, 



ENCOUKAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 135 

must be made as nearly normal as possible by 
the establishment of personal relations between 
the owners, represented by the officers, and the 
employees, representing certain of their fellow 
workers whom they themselves have chosen.' ' 

"But this spirit of which we have been speak- 
ing is not something new. It is centuries old. 
Nearly two thousand years ago, a simple car- 
penter in Nazareth proclaimed the doctrine. 

"The far-reaching influence which He had 
was not so much because He preached Brother- 
hood as because He lived it; lived it when in 
contact with the woman taken in adultery ; lived 
it when He associated with publicans and sin- 
ners ; lived it when the physically and spiritual- 
ly sick touched His life ; yes, but more than all. 
because He was ready to die for it. 

"It is not enough that we accept this princi- 
ple of Brotherhood intellectually, that we con- 
cede it to be theoretically, that we concede it to 
be theoretically sound. 

"Only as we live it, at home, in the office, in 
industrial contrasts, in social and political life, 
in national and international relations, will it 
become a real, vital, transforming force in the 
world.' ' 



136 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

Another encouragement is that men are rec- 
ognizing the utter futility of all efforts to re- 
deem the world with their man-made agencies 
and are turning to God for guidance. Five 
years ago the world was mad with self -adula- 
tion. Men believed that they had forever 
sheathed the sword with culture and bound the 
brute nature with the chords of education. 
They used many arguments showing the impos- 
sibility of war. The mothers of the world 
would not permit the butchery of their sons; 
men were too highly developed to lift hand 
against a brother; death dealing machines 
would destroy whole armies within an hour ; the 
cost of war made a long strife financially im- 
possible ; national treaties would restrain, were 
only a few of the faultless arguments. Within 
one hour these arguments and all their fellows 
were swept away in a torrent of blood. The 
world placed its confidence upon the broken 
reed, it is now turning toward God. Men have 
failed, what is the will of God? This is the 
question asked upon every side. Let the church 
speak a spiritual message that cannot be mis- 
understood. The hope of the world is the mes- 
sage of Christ : " Ye must be born again.' ' 



ENCOURAGEMENTS ABUNDANT 137 

The world is ready, as never before, to re- 
ceive the evangelistic message. The claims of 
Christ are widely recognized as the remedy for 
our social and spiritual ills. Men are waiting 
sympathetically for words fitly spoken. Amid 
the confusion of falling thrones and nations in 
the making, multitudes of strong men, weary of 
man-made theories, are ready to come to the 
help of the Lord against the mighty. This is no 
hour for disheartedness or inactivity. This is 
no time to quibble over trivial matters of 
method. Abounding encouragements urge en- 
thusiastic endeavor. Men and women of Chris- 
tian culture are not apt to cause great offence. 
Even so, the Holy Spirit can and does use the 
offence to win the wounded soul. No plan can 
win universal favor. Each man must take that 
which affords the most natural means for self 
expression, then God brings great and mighty 
things to pass; but, before God accomplishes, 
man must act. 



XII 



WHOLE CITIES TAKEN UNANIMOUSLY 
FOB CHRIST 

EVERY minister should be an evangelist. 
Because lie is a Christian he must of ne- 
cessity be evangelistic. It is impossible 
for him to fill-full or fulfill his truest function 
without a fervor for reaching the unsaved men, 
women and children about him. Every minister 
should be an evangelist just as every Christian 
member of his church has the spirit of evangel- 
ism giving intelligent direction to all other 
church activities. The slogan, 6 ' Every preacher 
his own evangelist' ' should be far more inclu- 
sive and read: "Every Christian his own evan- 
gelist" for the spirit of Christianity is the 
spirit of evangelism. 

One cannot really know Christ without pos- 
sessing an overwhelming desire to lead others 
unto Him, that they may share the inexhausti- 
ble treasures of His boundless love. Christian- 
ity so began. Andrew accepted Christ as his 
Lord and Master, but, before he followed Him, 

138 



CITIES TAKEN FOR CHRIST 139 

"he first findeth his own brother Simon, and 
saith unto him, We have found the Messias," 
and he brought him to Jesus, that together, they 
might enjoy the Divine fellowship. Christ 
called Philip, but Philip first "findeth Nathaniel 
and saith unto him, We have found Him of 
whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did 
write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 
They were "called" of Christ, but first they 
went to "find" someone else to go with them, 
and the "finding" implies searching, the using 
of personal effort to persuade another to share 
their newly found joy. 

The Gospel is "good tidings" and we are not 
requested but commanded to "go tell" it to "all 
nations" which is God's way of saying "every- 
body." Christ commands it, not to add a bur- 
den for discipline, or to show our gratitude to 
Him for what He has done for us, but because 
it is absolutely essential for the spiritual life 
and growth of His followers. The Apostles so 
understood Christ's "go ye" and into the whole 
wide world they went with their message of 
love, and would not stop until the last man whom 
they sought had been found and re-made into 
the likeness of their Lord and Master. 



140 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

The Sunday School teacher should, by; all 
means, be a Christian, and therefore an evan- 
gelist seeking with Christ-like earnestness to so 
interpret the Scriptures by word and example 
that every youthful scholar will gladly sur- 
render his life to Christ thus giving to the King- 
dom a life-long instead of a fragmentary serv- 
ice. The teacher of those of mature years 
should teach the Word with such prayerful, ear- 
nest spirit as to compel the unforgiven men or 
women to confess their sins and become con- 
verted. This is the privilege of every Sunday 
school teacher. 

Every church official should be an evangelist. 
Men and women who have been set aside by their 
local organization to care for the temporal af- 
fairs of the Kingdom should, without question, 
be so truly converted, that while they would 
neglect no temporal interest of the church, 
would place above all else the things that are 
spiritual. In the work of evangelism it's often 
the laity and not the Priest-hood that God has 
anointed for His mightiest work. The secret 
of the great revivals under Wycliff was that 
even the humble plow-boys hurried from house 
to house reading aloud the newly-opened Bible. 



CITIES TAKEN FOR CHRIST 141 

The great English revivals under the leader- 
ship of the Wesleys were due to the fervor of 
the young converts to tell the story of redeem- 
ing love, and the zealous labors of those Godly 
men and women who were appointed as Class 
Leaders, to council and guide the young con- 
verts in Christian testimony, public prayer and 
exhorting their companions to seek Christ. 
Moody was a layman, but because he had the 
true vision of serving Christ became a leader of 
preachers. 

Our Young People 's Societies are often found 
struggling for life and presenting one of the 
most perplexing of all problems to the pastors, 
as indicated in many conferences with religious 
leaders. Life comes to these organizations the 
moment they catch the vision of the youthful 
Christ within the temple and begin, at once, 
their Father's business. Let this slogan be 
placed in every Young People 's Society place of 
meeting: " Every Christian his own evangel- 
ist' ' and let the young men and women of our 
churches catch the spirit and the Church has a 
mighty force for righteousness that cannot well 
be calculated. 



142 PBOBLEM— OE OPPOKTUNITY 






Each preacher must be an evangelist. It was 
for this that he was called of God and educated 
by his church. Paul writes to Timothy, "Do the 
work of an evangelist." Each sermon must 
ring with the evangelistic note and sinners en- 
tering his congregation must not depart with- 
out an invitation to forsake sin and seek 
Christ's pardon. His mid-week prayer serv- 
ices must ring with intercessory prayer for 
those who know not the Way, the Truth and the 
Life. He must organize all the activities of his 
church so that they yield definite results in the 
one great purpose for which the church was 
created. 

Every preacher being an evangelist does not 
mean the passing of those whom God hath 
chosen and ordained especially for the office of 
an evangelist. The complexity of our modern 
social life which makes such varied demands 
upon the pastor often make it impossible or im- 
practical for the pastor of the Church to be the 
preacher in the protracted efforts for soul win- 
ning. He has not the strength, physical equip- 
ment, or church organization necessary for such 
work, therefore it has always been necessary 
and always will be necessary for men to be set 



CITIES TAKEN FOE CHRIST 143 

apart for the work of evangelism. This neces- 
sity is recognized in Holy Writ: "arid he gave 
some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, 
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of 
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
Christ: until we all come to the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4: 11- 
13.) 

In this day when great things are taking place 
because men of vision are organizing the vari- 
ous units into one objective where they work 
and share equally; the churches in our towns 
and cities must unite in effort if they would stir 
and take their community for Christ. The tak- 
ing of an entire city for Christ is no small task 
but it will yet be accomplished. God wants 
every sinner in every city saved. For this He 
gave His Son, and to bring this to pass Christ 
became obedient unto death. There is no limit 
to the power of God when once His people yield 
themselves to love and do His will, The Holy 
Spirit knows how to find access to every heart 
however sinful. Christ is waiting to receive 

10 



144 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

them with pardoning grace. All that is needed 
is a holy and wholly awakened church ready to 
do His bidding. That day is coming. I hope 
to live to see it — that glad day when the churches 
of some city shall awaken to their opportunity 
and never cease working and praying and be- 
lieving until the last soul, lingering amid the 
darkness, is safely sheltered with Christ. 

To accomplish this task the effort must be in- 
terdenominational, non-sectarian, and a sincere 
unity of spirit and purpose among the various 
units cooperating. Its history will be, first, the 
vision; second, the organization; third, the 
whole-hearted, fully-consecrated, unceasing toil 
of the Christians to do the will of Christ, not 
counting their lives dear unto themselves. The 
spirit of absolute union must pervade every 
part; and the preaching and personal work 
must be done on such a high plane that they are 
always a challenge to the noblest and best in 
every individual. 

It cannot be done without equipment. There 
must be a building sufficiently large and adapta- 
ble for the work, which generally means the 
erection of some temporary structure, but even 
the building of this temple, to be used only for 



CITIES TAKEN FOR CHRIST 145 

the saving of souls, is an invaluable asset. I 
have never known a man to drive a nail in one 
such building who was not converted in the 
meetings which followed. There are likely some 
exceptions but I have not learned of them, and 
I have known of the marvelous conversion of 
hundreds of men who were opposed to the proj- 
ect, but the simple act of driving a nail in the 
building created a feeling of partnership within 
the heart that resulted in conversion. The use 
of such a building affords a common meeting 
place of people of all prejudices, where all is 
new, and there is nothing to arouse the old ani- 
mosities. After they are converted these old 
animosities die. The singing of large chorus 
choirs teach the people to sing the gospel while 
they work thus reaching their companions. 
Shops, factories and business houses open for 
brief noon-day meetings enabling the employed 
to have a feeling of brotherhood with the re- 
ligious workers. The preaching of the evangel- 
ist gives the pastors the much needed time for 
organizing their churches to their maximum ef- 
ficiency, in reaching out for the unsaved and 
seeing that they are safely sheltered in a church 
home. 



146 PROBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

In such union there is strength to challenge 
the nonchurch-going and command their atten- 
tion. The Denominational campaigns for funds 
and tithers is valuable but dangerous, if men in 
this hour of reconstruction become sectarian. 
This is a most critical moment for the church. 
The next ten years are too vital to trifle with. 
Let each denomination push its claims and equip 
itself for the largest possible service at home 
and in mission field, but forget not that unself- 
ishness alone leads to success. We must not 
build for our denomination, but build for the 
Kingdom of God. Let them not forget that 
the business interests of the world, and even the 
greatest nations themselves, dare not face the 
problems of the reconstruction alone but are 
uniting in great organization and leagues. Let 
not the church alone make blunder. We are 
face to face with the greatest need and op- 
portunity ever presented to the church of 
Christ. We must meet them with a spirit of 
unity. Together we must make one mighty ef- 
fort to save the lost. In this hour of stirring 
possibilities the Christ prayer is 

"THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE." 



XIII 
GOD IS NOT A LIAR 

TO succeed in Christian undertakings we 
must take God at his word and not make 
him a liar by onr fears and lack of con- 
fidence in his promises. No man stands alone 
in God's work for God goes with him. Nearer 
is he than breathing and far more anxious for 
success than his most ardent follower could be. 
We are not alone. God the Father bends with 
parental yearnings to help us overcome. God 
the Son, made in the express image of the Fa- 
ther, walks by our side to reveal the way to vic- 
tory. God the Holy Spirit, dwelling within the 
heart, supplies the required strength for every 
task. "We cannot fail if we are pure in heart 
and put God to the test, for he is ever with us. 

Problems are solved and become coveted oc- 
casions as our sense of the nearness and power 
of God increases. With a keen appreciation of 
God the most insurmountable obstacle melts and 
becomes an open way leading to large and rare 
experiences. It does not require a very big man 

147 



148 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

to win startling victories for Eighteousness if 
only he has a big conception of the nearness and 
power of God. 

The almost total lack of effort to rescue men 
from the peril of their sins and the almost utter 
indifference of the church to the eternal danger 
of the sinful, is due to unbelief. The church is 
afraid to take God at his word in undertaking 
spiritual tasks. We like to pillow our heads 
upon the " precious promises of God" when we 
lie down to sleep, but are afraid to use them as 
a sure footing when we are asked to step off the 
edge of a precipice. We try to excuse ourselves 
by saying that surely these promises could not 
apply to ones so weak and ill prepared, know- 
ing that we are seeking shelter in a refuge of 
lies for every student of the Word knows that 
"it is not by might, nor by power, but by my 
Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." 

We forget that our unbelief makes God a 
liar. "He that believeth not God hath made 
him a liar ; because he believeth not the record 
that God gave his Son." To say to one dearly 
beloved: "I love you but have no faith in what 
you say" would be enough to break the heart. 
The suffering and heartaches of Gethsemane 



GOD IS NOT A LIAE 149 

were largely the results of such unbelief on the 
part of those who professed to love Christ. 
How must God feel about his idle, slothful fol- 
lowers who today profess to love him? 

No man is ever so lazy that he has not ambi- 
tion enough to search for and find an excuse for 
his idleness, so we are apt to say that our inac- 
tivity is not to make God a liar, that being an 
offense to our sensitive natures, but we are too 
humble to believe that the promises were meant 
for us. We say that we are too unworthy of 
such bounty and lull ourselves into self compla- 
cency saying, "Blessed are the meek for they 
shall inherit the earth. ' ' 

That is not meekness, but hypocrisy. We not 
only make God a liar, but perjure our own souls, 
when we utter the words. To accept Christ's 
pardon immediately obligates one to the service 
for which the Holy Spirit has prepared him, 
and if he is a truthful and honest individual, he 
will fulfil that obligation or die in the attempt. 
The feeling of fitness is not part of the religious 
program. We came to Christ and received his 
pardon, not because we felt worthy, but because 
we heard him speak the words of John 3 : 16 and 
we crept close to his wounded side under the 



150 PBOBLEM-^OR OPPORTUNITY 

shelter of that one word " whosoever.' ' Today] 
each one of ns, rejoices in the belief that that 
"whosoever" meant me. Does not the accept- 
ance of the benefits of one "whosoever" neces- 
sitate us to assume the obligations of the other 
"whosoevers" that fell from the Master's lips'? 
Let us reverently turn to the last verses of the 
seventh chapter of Matthew and read another 
very important t ' whosoever. ' ' 

1 ' Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them/' I will liken him unto a wise man, 
which built his house upon a rock: and the rain 
descended, and the floods came, and the winds 
blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : 
for it was founded upon a rock. 

"And everyone that heareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto 
a foolish man, which built his house upon the 
sand: and the rain descended, and the floods 
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it." 

The "whosoever" of John 3:16 means that 
any man and every man regardless of condi- 
tions may come to Christ for pardon and be wel- 
comed and received. The t ' whosoever ' ' of Mat- 
thew 7 : 24 means that the secret of permanent 



GOD IS NOT S LIAR 151 

^Christian character and enduring influence is 
with the acceptance of the benefits of Christ's 
atonement to also assume the responsibilities of 
Christ's service. Those who obey are estab- 
lished. Those who refuse to do his will, regard- 
less of belief or excuse, meet with complete and 
everlasting defeat. There is nothing said about 
feeling worthy or being fitted for the task. 
"Whosoever" "doeth" or "doeth not," and 
God expects a grateful service from every one 
who comes to him for pardon. It is the only 
way by which he can save the sinful. We must 
of necessity care enough to try and put the 
promises of God to the test. 

God is not a liar. As he was with Moses, the 
liberator of slaves, so will he be with every one 
who undertakes to free his f ellowman from the 
bondages of sin. The success of the penitent 
Jonah whose preaching won a whole city for 
God; the success of the Spirit filled Peter, 
whose one sermon won three thousand converts ; 
the success of Wesley whose parish was the 
world and whose value can be measured only in 
terms of a great eternity; the success of Moody 
whose influence is stronger with each passing 
year; may be the success of all those who fully 



152 PEOBLEM—OE OPPOETUNITY 

trust the promises of God and act without hesi- 
tation upon the program of God as announced 
in the commands of the Lord Jesus. 

God is not a liar. He promises good and not 
evil to those who put their trust in him. Why, 
then, should we hesitate to greet each of his ap- 
proaches with gladsomeness of heart. Dr. Tal- 
mage told the story of a poor Scotch woman 
who was about to he turned out because she 
could not pay her rent. One night when she 
heard a loud knocking at the door she remained 
silent and stealthily hid herself. She was great- 
ly frightened and said to herself : 

"It is the officer of the law come to throw me 
out of my home. ' ' 

A few days later a Christian friend met her 
and said: "My poor woman, where were you 
the other night ? I came round to your house to 
pay the rent. Why did you not let me in f ' ' 

"Why," she said, "if I had had any idea that 
it was you, I should have let you in. I thought 
that it was an officer come to throw me out of 
my house." 

Each new task is a blessing which God brings 
with his own hand. When he knocks at the door 



GOD IS NOT A LIAE 153 

how foolish it is for ns to fear when it is an oc- 
casion for rejoicing! 

The secret of power is obedience and a firm 
realization of the nearness and power of God. 
His concern is not so much what we have been, 
but our willingness to do his bidding from now 
on. During a tabernacle meeting in an eastern 
city a man under the influence of liquor came to 
my home and asked to see me. He told me of 
his long futile battle with appetite and how, for 
the sake of his wife, a beautiful Christian wom- 
an who had remained true to him under the 
most trying circumstances, he wanted Christ. 
We had prayer after which he promised me two 
things, that he would not taste liquor until he 
saw me again and that he would return within 
two days. His promises were not kept. Sev-< 
eral days afterward he did return even more 
under the inuflence of liquor than on his first 
visit but he was desperately in earnest. Fol- 
lowing a frank earnest talk we had prayer after 
which he began to pray for himself, in the most 
anxious and pathetic manner, that I had ever 
heard, and he did not quit praying until he was 
soundly converted. His face was radiant and 
he rejoiced that the long struggle was ended, as 



154 PEOBLEM— OR OPPORTUNITY 

lie hurried from my home to his own home to 
tell the good tidings. 

Having learned his choice of pastor I took oc- 
casion to get in touch with him that night and 
told him of the man's victory. Imagine my sur- 
prise when he greeted my statement with a smile 
and said : ' ' There 's no use, Anderson, that man 
is hopeless. It will not last two weeks. I have 
tried him before. I have walked the street with 
him and often on Saturday nights have stayed 
in the movies until nearly midnight in order 
that he might be in condition to hear me preach 
the next morning, and then he failed me. I tell 
you there is no use. ' ' 

* The first night that I gave the invitation for 
men to publicly confess Christ my friend was 
the first to grasp my hand and he brought an- 
other convert with him. The light of God was 
upon his face. My eyes blinded with tears of 
joy for the revival in that city had begun. 
"Without giving him any intimation as to who 
the doubter might be I told him at the close of 
the service, that I had heard the prophecy that 
he was not likely to ' ■ stick. ' ' ' ' How about it ? ' ' 
I inquired. He laughed as he replied: "I don't 
blame them for not having faith in me for I have 



GOD IS NOT A LIAR 155 

disappointed them so many times, but this time 
I shall stick for I am a converted man." Then 
I bade him "get to work." 

He did so. No band being available for head- 
ing the procession of delegates that daily at- 
tended the meetings, our new convert organized 
one among his old associates, and as the drum- 
major was on hand at every service. The band 
could play but one tune and some lovers of good 
music hardly appreciated that one, but to me it 
was always beautiful. I can see him now, as he 
walked down the long aisle, with radiant face 
and waving baton while the horns were tooting : 
"The Brewer's Big Horses Can't Run Over 
Me. " He " stuck ' ' the remaining four weeks of 
the meeting leading scores of souls to Christ. 
The doleful ones then predicted that he would 
not remain faithful long after the meetings 
stopped and the enthusiasm died down. But he 
remained true to his trust. Gathering a group 
of converts about him, he formed a prayer band 
that went every where holding their testimony 
and prayer services, always giving sinners a 
chance to confess Christ until within a year 
they had led nearly three hundred souls to make 
the supreme decision. Because he was willing 



156 PEOBLEM— OE OPPOETUNITY 

to take God at his word lie did a mightier work 
than hundreds of ministers, and he is still 
abundant in the Master's business having ren- 
dered a most fruitful service to our soldiers in 
France through the ministry of the Y. M. C. A. 
The work is never hard when we give God a 
chance to fulfil his promises. A little girl of 
twelve years attended one of my Saturday aft- 
ernoon Young People's Meetings in which I 
made the statement that every child had a right 
to a Christian home in which to live and grow, 
and that if any of them were deprived of this 
rich privilege, to pray earnestly asking God to 
make their home Christian and the prayer would 
be answered. Not only were the parents of this 
little girl not Christians, but they were sepa- 
rated, the mother having left the home and 
taken her abode in another city. "When the 
mother left her family the burden of housekeep- 
ing and mothering a younger brother fell upon 
the little girl so that Saturday night, after the 
dishes were washed and put away, she called 
her brother aside for a conference which ended 
by both of them kneeling down and asking for a 
happy Christian home. It seemed like such a 
hopeless task and would have staggered many 



GOD IS NOT A LIAR 157 

earnest Christian people, but — the children had 
faith. The next morning the little girl ran to 
her brother's bed and awakened him with the 
good tidings : 

"I know that mother is coming home. I 
dreamed last night that I saw Jesns coming to 
live in onr home and he was bringing mother 
with him. ' ' 

On her way to the morning service she mailed 
a letter telling her mother all about the meeting, 
what I had said about every child having a right 
to a Christian home, her own and her brother 's 
prayer and the dream. "I know that you are 
coming and coming soon, ' ' she added. 

The following Thursday was Thanksgiving 
day and the reunited family ate their dinner to- 
gether and that night the father and mother 
with the two happy children came forward in 
the tabernacle to give their hearts to God. 
Every day since then the Bible has been read 
and as the family kneel to pray they forget not 
to mention the name of the one who helped them 
rebuild their home. 

Why can we not take God at his word? 



xrv; 

NOW! 

CLEAEEE than the tones of a silver 
trumpet is the voice of the Holy Spirit 
calling' to the churches of America: 
' ' NOW is the accepted time, NOW is the day of 
salvation !" " TODAY if ye will hear His 
voice, harden not your hearts." Out of this 
frightful wreckage of war we must build a tem- 
ple, for the teeming millions who are untrained 
in Christian living. No other hands can per- 
form the task. There is no call as important 
and none that challenges to such heroic endeav- 
or. To hold back is not conservatism but stu- 
pidity. Delay spells defeat for the kingdom of 
love. The call must be, not to the purses of men 
so much as to the consciences of men. This is 
preeminently a spiritual crisis. The world can 
be made "safe" only when it is a converted 
world. Nothing but the Spirit of God can save 
the day. Then let the Church of God be upon 
its bended knees, praying the Lord of the har- 
vests to send forth reapers. Let all who love 

158 



NOW 159 

God be afraid to do any task save obey the great 
command to go disciple all nations, but begin- 
ning at Jerusalem. Hear again the voice of 
Angela Morgan. 

' ' Out of the lands, a moaning 
And gnashing of souls in pain; 
children of earth 
Ye may give birth 
What the millions died to gain. 
Never shall truth surrender 
To the world's chaotic sin; 
But spur your souls to splendor 
That law and right shall win. 
O people of earth, be lavish! 
Let your love in rivers stream — 
Yours is the power 
To rear the tower 
Of God's triumphant dream. 
O children of earth, be noble ! 
Let your gold in plenty pour, 
For the graves of earth are many 
And the wounds of earth are sore. 
No price may pay 
For yesterday 

But NOW rings trumpet clear, 
To build the domes 
Of the Future's homes 
Above the roads of fear. 9 ' 



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